This is an except of a chapter from "Story of The Old Home Town" Jewell City, Kansas by my grandfather, Everett Palmer. As published in the Jewell County Republican in 28 weekly installments beginning April 28, 1933

Wide Trade Territory

Business in the new town of Jewell City started with a rush. These was work for carpenters, masons,quarrymen, lumber manufacturers, blacksmiths, teamsters, clerks professional men, surveyors, and laborers. The town for a time, was the trading point for a vast stretch of western territory. Homesteaders came from as far as Smith County to trade provisions. The county seat was located at Jewell City. It was the first point in the county to have a school, doctor, church or newspaper.

But less prosperous times soon came. The count seat was moved to Jewell Centre in 1873. The same year a storm demolished the town's new school house. In 1874, the country was stripped by the memorable grasshopper scourge. Prominent business men quit the town, and hundreds of settlers returned to the east. It was a dark hour for the struggling village.

The pendulum of business activity, however, completed its backward swing in 1874. The following year good crops were raised and the grasshoppers did not return. Immigration continued to Jewell County and population figures soared. According to the census returns of March 1877, there was a permanent population in the county of 9,767. The school population was 3,615. And this great company of pioneers maintained themselves in a new country 70 miles from a railroad.

Market Prices Vary

The early day markets varied with the seasons and the fast changing current of business development and transportation. Published markets in the "Clarion" of Feb. 7, 1873 quote:

Winter wheat, bushel....................$1.00
Oats, bushel......................;................35
Potatoes, bushel ...............................75
Butter, pound ....................................15
Eggs, dozen ......................................12
Hogs, pound ......................................06
Retail prices were:
Sugar, 6 pounds ............................$1.00
Dried Apples, 8 pounds ....................1.00
Coffee 3 1/2 pounds ........................1.00
Sorghum, gallon ..................................65
Flour, No 1 spring wheat, 100 lbs.....4.25
Flour, No. 2 per 100 lbs ....................3.25
Beans, per pound ...............................18

Markets quote three years later in January, 1876 are as follows
Wheat, bushel..............................$ .45
Wheat winter, bushel ......................55
Hogs, pound ....................................05
Oats, bushel ....................................20
Rye, bushel ......................................20
Potatoes, bushel .............................15
Retail prices were:
Flour ............................................$2.75
Beans, bushel ................................2.50
Coffee, 3 1/2 pounds .....................1.00
Sugar, 7 to 10 lbs ..........................1.00
Teas, pound .......................50¢ to 1.00
Syrups, gallon ....................50¢ to 1.50
Butter, pound ...................................15
Eggs, dozen .....................................08

In as issue of the "Diamond" for August 1877, appears this item concerning markets. "Mr CC King informs us that he sold his and Judge George's hogs to a buyer in Clyde, to be delivered at Greenleaf, for $3.60. Not a hog died on the way."

The quotations will show the general level of pioneer markets in Jewell County, but there was wide variation, according to the crop, season, and transportation.

Rottlady's Note: This is the included in a series I'm posting. You can find the rest by clicking on the link "story of the old home town".