The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-07-15
Pure Metal Was Common
Medium Of Exchange in
Pioneer Days.
CREENBACKS DOUBTED
Government Money F1ucu-
ated in Value and Never
Was Worth Its Face.
CONTINUED From Page One.)

NSOUtlHucu TOIU INSC OHe.J
bcrs of confederate soldiers arrived in
Montana both during and after the
war. Confederate Gulch is n reminder
OF this immigra ton. In fact the his
torians Of early Montana love to en-
large on the troubles Of this period.
Montana was begotten in the throes
of civil strife. Party feeling ran high.
Attempts to name towns for confed-
crate celebrities caused a tempest Of
bitterness. This far-away echo Of
Bull Run and Gettysburg Is ono Of
those touches which gives the first set
Element of Montana such romantic
history.
Were Afraid Of Outcome.
In addition to the peculiar problems
met by reenbacks in Montana. there
was the old argument against paper
money that this form OF currency OK
perienced throughout the country.
Thus Granville Stuart spoke OF them:
The people Of Montana did not know
how the war would terminate. and so
hcsitated to accept grccnbacks All
prices were quoted in gold. AS well as
worth but 40 cents on the dollar when
they arrived. This was hard on the
poor people from the east who arrived
with their fortunes in greenbacks. OF
course they were discounted in the
east. but when they got to Montana
prices were frghtfully high, and they
were pretty hard up"
Greenbacks Fluctu ated.
That greenbacks deprecated ma
terially. and that their depreciation
was subject to fluctuations is well
known. Suffice II to state that the
average discount relative 10 gold dur
tng Its worst year. 1864. was 4s2.
From then on it had it's ups and downs
daily, and rose to an average Of II or
~ during the three years following
1864 to nearly 30 from 1870 to its re-
demption in 1879. tAmong other
places, a table OF greenback dcprecia.
tion from 1862 to 1875 can be found in
A. Barton Hepburn, History OF Coin
ege and Currency in the United States
and the Perennial Contest for Sound
Money" New York. 1903, PIP. 204, 22y.)
The Montana depreciation of this
form Of currency kept pace roughly
with quotations In the east. In 1862
4. when its nadh was reached in New
York, il was at the low cbb In the
gold camps. David B. Weaver, a pio-
necr of those times. says that at Curry
Gulch flour was sold for SIS a sack in
gold, or $50 in Ercenbacks, and that II
was at the same figure the following
year. t"Early Days in Immigration
Gulch." in Publications of the Montana
Historical society, vol. VII. PIP. 10. S4)
But the rate of discount was SEEM
inrly not consistent. While green
backs suffered 80 per cent deprecia-
t!on in the case Of flour. smoking to-
'bacco At the same time and place sold
for $500 pound gold. or $3.50 in green
backs. ubid., p. SD
"lf Taken at ALL"
One Of Montana's most distinguished
pioneers, Cornelius Hedges, says that
in 1865 grecnbacks were discounted so
per cent "when taken at ALL" GIN
MemOriam"--to Charles Rumley--in
Pub. Mont. Hist Soc, vol. III, p. 24)
Another contemporary. Lyman a.
Munson, wrote that in the sixties gold
dust was worth SIS an ounce. and that
1T took $50 dollars or more in green
backs to equal It," ("Pioneer Life in
Montana" in Pub. Hist. Soc. of Mont
vol. V, PIP. 225-6D when Dimsdales
"ViEilantes OF Montana" the first book
published in the territory, came from
the press in 1866 it was advertised in
the Montana Post of November 10 at
the following rates:
in
$2.25."
In 1867 Bishop futile found that
greenbacks were discounted Is per
cent. while by the following year they
had fallen another per cent c.Rem-
inlscences OF n Missionary Bishop"
PIP. 1e9. 2l4) At times the fluctua-
tons must have been radical. 1t is
stated in the Montana Post" Of No.
vember 3. 1866 that I'm the last two
weeks gold has descended from 80 to
46 per cent premium" This would
mean "A material rise in the value of
Gold Ratio in Question.
Other pioneers of the early sixties
vouch for these discount rates of
sreenbacks. but few Of them agree as
TO the ratio between them and gold.
This Is doubtless due to the fact that
the camps were widely scattered, and
that there was relatively little COM
munication between them. 1t also
seems doubtful whether grccnbacks
mad any fixed value in the terms of
gold in single camp at one time.
The people OF the east at least had
the advantage OF Il money market.
Such an institution was wholly lacking
in Montana.
From the above statements it is
obvious that either the degree Of dc.
probation on the part of greenbacks
was most unstable, or that the Mon
tana settlements made little attempt
to Keep well informed as to the con-
dition Of the money market. On the
other hand 1t should be remembered
that most of these statements were
made many years after the events
narrated took place. and that The
vouchers for them may have recol-
lected exceptional cases, and to have
been guilty of generalizing much on
them.
"reminiscences Unreliable.
Any one who has done much interro.
eating of actors in events which tool
place long before has met this tenden