Terminology used in the actual AC&I Ledger
Important Note – All page numbers refer to the actual page numbers printed on the actual ledger page, not the page cited in any digital file listing.
C Store – AC&I Company Store at Coalton
R Store – AC&I Company Store at Rush
Wag or Wagons – Wagon full of coal and the basis for a coal miner’s pay. These miners worked at the active coal face and were paid strictly by the amount of coal produced with a “Wagon” being the fundamental unit of production.
The miners being paid strictly on “Wagons” of coal produced also had to do other routine tasks in the mine and they were compensated for these other necessary tasks by lump sum, line item, payment amounts. These 6 “other” necessary tasks are classified in this ledger as “Bottom”, “Water”, “Entry”, “Room”, “A. C.”, and “P. C. & T.”. An explanation of these 6 follows.
Bottom – Material under the coal seam that has to be removed for efficient mine use.
Water – Water in the mine that has to be removed for efficient mine use.
Entry – Excavation in the mine to create an entry from the outside.
Room – Much like entry but excavation work to produce an internal mine “room”. A room is created off a main or sub-main entry.
A. C. – Air Courses – Work to create or maintain the necessary air courses in the mine. These air courses were routes to deliver fresh air to workers in the mine and reduce buildup of volatile gasses like methane produced at the mined coal face. “A. C.” can indicates two types of transactions in this ledger, pay to a face miner for “A. C.” related work, and any other expenditure like material or equipment need to provide for the Air Courses. There is a distinct internal account for all “Air Course” expense in the ledger. See:
Air Course account (click here for link)
P., C. & T. – Posts, Caps, and Ties – Large wooden members used for mine roof supports and for ties in the very narrow gage inter mine tracks for coal wagons. P., C. & T. can indicate two types of transactions in this ledger, pay to a face miner for “P., C. &T.” related work, and the direct cost to purchase the Posts, Caps, and Ties. There is a distinct internal account for this basic “Posts, Caps, & Ties” expense in the ledger. See:
Posts, Caps, and Ties Account Link (click here for link)
Day – Individuals paid on a day rate. These employees might be inside or outside of the mines, but they were doing work not directly related to face coal production.
Month – Individuals paid on a monthly rate. These employees might be inside or outside of the mines, but they were doing work not directly related to face coal production.
Salary – Individuals paid on a monthly rate. These employees might be inside or outside of the mines, but they were doing work not directly related to face coal production.
Sharp – Cost charged to miners by the AC&I for sharpening the miner’s tools using company owned and operated sharpening facilities.
P. R. – Pay Roll
Rent – Rents paid either to or by the AC&I. In most cases this listing is for rent individual miners are paying to the AC&I for the company owned housing they are living in. But, there are a meaningful number of entries where the AC&I is either collecting or paying other rents.
S. S. – Smith Shop – Work performed by the companies own internal Smith Shop. These charges typically show up as deductions from the miners’ pay. I can only reasonably speculate that these are repairs or fabrication of the miners’ metal tools. The face miners owned, and were expected to maintain, their own tools. There is a distinct internal account for this basic “Smith Shop” expense in the ledger. Note that this ledger account also includes AC&I general “Smith Shop” expenses and not just the charges to individual miners for this speculated tool repair.
Smith Shop Account (click on this link for account)
“Tickets” (numerous places) – usage unknown – Page 36 (click for link)
“Checks” on credit side (right) – Usage Unknown – See James M Collins – Page 13 for example
“Checks” on debits side (left) – Usage Unknown – See Patrick Murphy – Page 43 for example
Terms I have assigned regarding the AC&I Ledger (for index use).
? – Not enough information to determine the nature of the ledger account.
Rate – Amount paid in dollars and time period associated with that rate of pay (almost all are Day Laborers). This rate has been determined by a calculation dividing the gross amount for a particular line item by the cited time period for that gross amount. The rate cited in the index is calculated from a sampling. If a range of values are calculated the maximum and minimum of that range are cited.
Miner – A worker that at some point in the time frame of this ledger worked at the mine face and was paid by “Wagons” of coal produced.
Day – A worker that at some point in the time frame of this ledger worked and was paid at a day rate. A Day Laborer.
Miner & Day – A worker that at some point in the time frame of this ledger worked at the mine face and was paid by “Wagons” of coal produced, and at other times worked as a Day Laborer.
Month – A worker that at some point in the time frame of this ledger worked and was paid at a monthly rate.
Salary – A worker that at some point in the time frame of this ledger worked and was paid a salary.
Some accounts have “Day” pay rates that vary even within a monthly installment cycle. This is likely for two reasons:
1) The nature of work done by the employee changes during the month and the pay varies based on the nature of the work for that day. Some day rate jobs just paid more than others.
2) There is actually more than one person working under a specific account, but just one name is listed. This is illustrated by accounts that have far more day rate “days” totaled than are possible in a month. The account for A. C. McNeil, page 62 (link below), has 81 days worked in March of 1888. This consists of 28 days @ $1.20 / day, 27 days @ $0.80 / day, and 26 days @ $0.55 / day. Miners of this period typically worked every day except Sunday, and in March of 1888 there were 27 non Sunday days, so it looks like three people are actually working on this one account. I speculate that this is likely a family with a older family member, say a father, and their name is used for the account name. And, boys in the same family are working under their father’s account. These accounts typically have some day rate at the very bottom end of the scale ($0.50 / day). It was very common for boys to work in mines in this era and they were typically assigned jobs that were the lowest pay rates. Even as late as 1924 my own Father started to work in the mines at age 12. He was given a job of opening and closing an air trap door in the mines that directed air to a working coal face. Occasionally this air trap door needed to be temporally opened and closed to allow a mule or pony team pulling coal wagons to pass.
Day Laborers rates vary from $0.50 to $2.50 per day with $1.00 to $1.50 being the most common. Very few are paid more than $1.80 per day. The lowest rates are most likely for boys.
Link to AC&I Mine Ledger Index
Link to WCB Article in this AC&I Ledger
Special thanks John Hiett, Kentucky Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mine Safety, for confirming some of the face miner’s non “Wagons” pay type abbreviations.