Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 1 9 62 Mining camps were often bustling. Entrepreneurs were quick to follow the miners, eager to sell all manner of goods in exchange for the unrefined prod- ucts of the miners' toil. However, once Eastern capital began investing, the free enterprise spirit was often quashed. Isolated mining camps, populated by loggers as well as miners, often had nowhere to buy food, clothing, and other necessi- ties except at stores run by the mining company itself. In itself, this would be a monopoly, but there was more to it. e mine's employees were often paid in "shin-plasters" and "brass checks." A shin plaster was a derogatory name for paper scrip. Often of absurdly low denominations, they had the reputation of being as worthless as any slip of paper the men used as padding in their socks to keep their boots from rubbing on their shins. A brass check was a token issued by the management. Stamped with values ranging from a few dollars down to a single penny, they could only be spent at company stores. Some were actually brass, some were tin. A big company would have the company name stamped on it. An employee might be able to trade the scrip or token for actual cash, but at a hefty discount, losing as much as 35% on the trade. MINERS TAKE HOSTAGES FOR WAGES OWED ough often independent by nature, miners were not reluctant to work together when necessary. A common threat met with common resolve. In Feb- ruary, 1887, the mine at Gregory, roughly 25 miles from Helena, shut down. e town has virtually disappeared from Montana memory, though it was reported at one point to have produced as much as half a million dollars' worth of bul- lion—nearly $13,500,000 in today's dollars. e Gregory Consolidated Mining Company was owned by New York businessmen, including millionaire banker Joseph Seligman. He dispatched his son, A. J. Seligman, to attend to the closing down of the operation. More than three hundred workers, miners and loggers, were owed two months back pay, amounting to roughly $75,000. At roughly $4 a day, these were good wages, but it looked as if they might never be paid. When young Seligman arrived with three other officers of the company, the miners took them hostage. On a somewhat surprising note, the miners voted to close every saloon to forestall any untoward alcohol-fueled incidents. SHIN-PLASTERS BRASS CHECKS T ENNESSEE ERNIE FORD HAD A MILLION SELLER WITH HIS 1950S RECORD- ING OF SIXTEEN TONS. By that time nearly 20 years had passed since it had become illegal to require miners to shop at stores run by the mining companies they worked for. But what was the company store? Why was the miner in debt to it? Why did it become illegal and what does the song Merle Travis wrote about the coal mines of the East have to do with Montana history? " You load sixteen tons, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I cain't go, I owe my soul to the company store." From Sixteen Tons The Seligman house HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY Trade tokens Joseph Seligman HERITAGE HERITAGE DEPARTMENT HERITAGE by LYNDEL MEIKLE AND

• Cover