February 14, 2019 / Joanne Yeck

Buckingham County Business: Wages, 1920

At the dawn of a new decade, Charlottesville’s Daily Progress printed current wage information for employers hiring in January of 1920. What was labor in Buckingham County worth?

Farm laborers expected $2.50 a day and board.

Wood choppers were asking one dollar for cutting a cord of wood in 8 foot lengths. They got $2.50 per cord for cutting pulpwood.

Miners who had returned from the coal fields, presumably in West Virginia, were saying that when they were able to get work in the mines, they earned $10 -12 per day.

The article also noted that the price of farm land had increased an extraordinary 100%. As a result, many properties had changed hands.

Coming next: Buckingham County Business: Prosperity, 1920