4th — Snowed last night. Fixed fence & gathered corn. Pa & John hauled the apples off today. There were 70 Barrels. 37 barrels of number ones — $2.75 each & 33 barrels of number twos — $2.00 each.
Each of the grade-one barrels were worth $2.75, which has the same spending power as $83.07 in 2019. Thirty-seven grade-one barrels would then be worth $101.75 total in 1901, and worth $3,073.56 in 2019. The grade-two barrels would be worth $60.41 each in 2019, and thirty-three of them would have the same spending power as $1993.66 today. Total, that apple revenue equals $5,067.22.
Jesse doesn’t say if that was the only haul, or one of many in the fall. Is $5,000 in 2019 worth the work and maintenance entailed? It would be nice to know how big is the orchard, and again, if this was the only haul or if there were more. How many people are picking apples, and for how many hours? Also, do they own literally 70 or more barrels, or does wherever they took the apples (where did they take the apples?) have reusable barrels to unload the apples brought in by the farmers? Kind of like how the U.S. Post Office has those reusable white crates. If the Bench family really owns all of those heavy barrels, where are they all stored? And how many fit in a wagon that Pa or John drove?
