The next Day Tom went hunting & killed a deer. The deer dressed out about 75#. Then we had a fine feast indeed. Well, Tom killed the deer about 2 mi. up Sweet Briar Creek a way back in the mts. & brush & packed it pretty near home to Callies – packed it within about a quarter of a mile of the house, then he laid it down & came to the house & got John to go back with him. Wanted help to carry it the rest of the way to the house. They got within 200 yards of where the deer lay & Tom sat down to rest & told John to go on & get the deer. Well John went on and passed the place where the deer lay & just kept on going & got about 1 mi. up in the mts. & then came back & found Tom gone. Well says he “I guess Tom has gone on after the deer himself” so he goes back to hunt for Tom & the deer. In the meantime, Tom had got the deer & gone on home. Well, we waited & waited & still John didn’t come. He was still hunting the deer that had already been hunted, killed & packed home. Tom & I struck out to hunt John after we skinned the deer. We went up into the mts. about a mile & met John coming back. The lost had been found. John did get to help to eat the deer even if he missed out on every thing else. The next day we started out to find a job. We went up to Sesson’s & went to all the big mills but they were all full. So we came back & stayed at Callies. This morning I went to see the foreman of the Extra gang & got a job for all three of us at $1.98 a day. 11 hrs., 18.00 board. So we went to Castella & John & I bought some beds & Tom hopped a freight & went to Slatones to hunt a bed that Frank had left there about 4 months ago. Tom got back tonight but didn’t find the bed.
Jesse is writing in recall and might not have the correct date for yesterday and today. The deer hunting episode might have been Sunday, June 2nd, and the boys went job hunting on Monday the 3rd.
In 1901, $1.98 a day had the same spending power as $59.53. For an 11-hour day, that comes to $5.42 per hour in 2019 dollars. Jesse doesn’t say it, but it’s for the Southern Pacific Railroad. The timeframe is not clear for that $18.00 ($541.16 in 2019) board. Is that $18 per month? For one person, or for Jesse, John, and Tom combined?
