4 ms·

> By 4 p.m., more than 40,000 people had arrived For anybody else that was curious, in 1896 $2*40k = $2.4M in 2019 http://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1

> By 4 p.m., more than 40,000 people had arrived For anybody else that was curious, in 1896 $2*40k = $2.4M in 2019 http://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1896?amount=80000 http://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1896?amount=80000

black_puppydog 7y ago
that doesn't sound like an awful lot for two locomotives and logistics...?
- jopsen 7y ago
  Probably the locomotives had to be scrapped regardless. But putting down the rail sounds expensive, could it be that this was cheaper back then?
  - jl6 7y ago
    Probably the track they laid would have needed to meet only the most basic requirements, with minimal consideration of reliability, safety, longevity, etc.
  - bluGill 7y ago
    Putting down rail would have been cheap. Since it was one time use they could take a lot of shortcuts - who cares if the next frost will twist the rails when you will be done before the next frost.
    - ataturk 7y ago
      People labored 16hrs a day for pennies. There was no OSHA and no governing bodies because there was nobody to complain about where the tracks were laid, etc.
mywittyname 7y ago
For further context, I found a table of wages from that era (since the CPI calculator only goes back to 1913). https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1890-1899#collapseThree https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1890-1899#... It looks like $2 was the daily wage for many skilled people during that era. Train conductors made about $3 a day, a carpenter would get $2.05, and an unclassified worker made $1.65.
nkurz 7y ago
I think some people may be misintepreting this number. The actual event was free to attend. The $2 charge was not the admission price, but the cost of a round trip train ticket to the event from anywhere in Texas. Other possibly more reliable sources say that this ticket varied in price and was as much as $5 depending on origin: http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/crush.htm http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/crush.htm. So while there was a lot of economic activity associated with the crash, it wasn't the equivalent of a modern event with $2.4 million of gate receipts.

black_puppydog 7y ago

that doesn't sound like an awful lot for two locomotives and logistics...?

jopsen 7y ago
Probably the locomotives had to be scrapped regardless. But putting down the rail sounds expensive, could it be that this was cheaper back then?
- jl6 7y ago
  Probably the track they laid would have needed to meet only the most basic requirements, with minimal consideration of reliability, safety, longevity, etc.
- bluGill 7y ago
  Putting down rail would have been cheap. Since it was one time use they could take a lot of shortcuts - who cares if the next frost will twist the rails when you will be done before the next frost.
  - ataturk 7y ago
    People labored 16hrs a day for pennies. There was no OSHA and no governing bodies because there was nobody to complain about where the tracks were laid, etc.

mywittyname 7y ago

For further context, I found a table of wages from that era (since the CPI calculator only goes back to 1913). https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1890-1899#collapseThree https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1890-1899#... It looks like $2 was the daily wage for many skilled people during that era. Train conductors made about $3 a day, a carpenter would get $2.05, and an unclassified worker made $1.65.

nkurz 7y ago

I think some people may be misintepreting this number. The actual event was free to attend. The $2 charge was not the admission price, but the cost of a round trip train ticket to the event from anywhere in Texas. Other possibly more reliable sources say that this ticket varied in price and was as much as $5 depending on origin: http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/crush.htm http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/crush.htm. So while there was a lot of economic activity associated with the crash, it wasn't the equivalent of a modern event with $2.4 million of gate receipts.