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Page 148 EARLY BUSINESS AND
BUILDING
The local saw mills furnished the larger part of the
lumber used in constructing the greater part of the residences and
business houses of the city. This lumber was hauled as far as 8
miles to To miles on wagons. Hardware was very reasonable, and in
1895 nails sold for $1.90 per hundred, and other hardware was in
proportion. In 1895 white oak flooring 1?" thick was laid down at
$20.00 per thousand and the purchaser paid floor count. At that time
hardwood floors had commenced to be used as well as the better
grades of other lumber. White pine shingles No. I sold for $3.50
delivered; No. 2 were $2.50; and Culls or No. 3 ran about $1.25. In
1895 carpenters were paid at the rate of $2.25 per day, and a
foreman was paid $2.50, working from 7 A.M. to 6 P.M., with an hour
off at noon. They furnished their own tools, and the tools were
sharpened before the carpenter came on the job in the morning.
Ordinary labor was worth $1.5o per day and if a man were a foreman
or a little extra, he got an additional 25 cents.
Stores were opened at 6 o'clock in the morning and
closed at night when the last customer left, which sometime was as
late as 12 o'clock.
There were no catch-penny affairs in the town. The
people furnished their own amusements. The only luxury was candy,
which was handled by the grocery stores. There were no women clerks
in any of the stores. At that time women got married and raised
families to help develop the country, in place of working to get
enough money to support a husband.
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