Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/246

 186 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI more than three million pounds of ore, which was probably about one-half of the entire product of the region during the year. At this time there were about 1,100 men engaged in mining, this being a considerably smaller number than had formerly worked in the mines. Schoolcraft's explanation of this de- crease in the number of miners is that more men than formerly were engaged in manu- facturing and in farming. Besides farming and mining, perhaps the industries most important were trading and transportation. The stores of this period, while still small, with limited stock, were a great improvement over those of the earlier day, M'hieh we have described. There were to be found at Ste. Genevieve, Frederick- town, Cape Girardeau, Jackson, and New Madrid stores having considerable quantities of varied merchandise. A number of men were engaged in the business of buying and selling, and they were necessary to the growth of the country. They still continued to buy their goods in the east. We have noted the experience of the Jackson merchant who sent a team and wagon from Jackson to Baltimore, requiring three months to make the trip. These merchants acted as distributers of goods for other eommimities. Their profits were not large in the aggregate, because their total voliune of sales was small. They usually realized a sufficient profit on each particular sale as it was made. The conditions of trade in the territory are ,shoTi. in part, by the following advertise- ment, which appeared in the Missouri Gazette in 1811: "Cheap Goods. The subscriber has ,iust opened a quantity of bleached coun- try linen, cotton cloth, cotton and wool cards, German steel, smoothing irons, ladies' silk bonnets, artificial flowers, linen check mus- lins, white thread, wool and cotton, a hand- some new gig with plated harness, cable and cordeUe ropes, with a number of articles which suit the country, and which he will sell on very low terms. "He will take in pay, furs, hides, whiskey, country made sugar and bees wax. (Signed) John Arthur. "P. S. A negro girl, eighteen years of age is also for sale. She is a good house servant. ' ' In 1806, the following prices were obtained for articles in Cape Girardeau: Calico, $1.00 a yard, linen 75 cents a yard, pins 31 J4 cents a paper, sugar 25 cents a pound, note paper 50 cents a quire, and other articles proportionately high. In 1818, when John M. Peck moved to St. Louis he foiuid high prices still prevailing there. The houses, shops and stores were all small, most of them only one story and con- sisting of two or three rooms. For a single room, occupied by the family, he paid $12.00 a month. The school room, which was four- teen by sixteen feet, cost them $14.00 a month. It was at that time very difficult to procure food at all. Butter sold from 37 to 50 cents a pound, sugar from 30 to 40 cents, coffee from 62 to 75 cents, flour, of an in- ferior grade, cost about $12.00 a barrel, corn in the ear was from $1.00 to $1.25 a bushel, pork raised on the range was regarded as cheap at $6.00 or $8.00 a hundred pounds. There was a ready market for chickens at 37 cents each, and eggs from 37 to 50 cents a dozen. These high prices were, in part, due to the system of currency. The currency in use was what was afterward denominated "shin plaster." These bills were issued by banks which had been instituted without any pdequate capital. The fact that the bills were not secure made people reluctant to take them