Even with bargained-for wages, times still got tough between paydays for many--but there always was credit at the company store. Long-Bell Mercantile, known to natives as "the Merc," issued five-dollar coupon books on credit to tide over Ryderwood's employees until the next payday. The coupons, or scrip, were as good as cash anywhere in town, and even just out of town at the privately-owned Johnsonville Tavern.

Ryderwood's General Store, Spring 1991
See a story about the 1997 fire and reconstruction effort.
After some controversy, the store was rebuilt and reopened in 2001.

And notice that the term was payday, not paycheck. The company paid twice a month in cash only, with such items as rent and coupon books deducted in advance. The men would line up at one entrance of the company office building, receive their pay through a barred window, and then wind around out the opposite door. Roy's oldest daughter, Patsy (my mother), remembers her father's accounts of payday and wonders who was there when the boardwalk in front of the office was replaced--"lots of coins were lost through those boards."

Due to the loggers' caulk (spiked) boots, the wooden boardwalks were a necessity; cement and caulks don't mix very well. On the whole, Long-Bell was good about providing the necessities one would expect to find in a town of two thousand people. The lack of a bank, however, proves a gaping exception. Luther explains that a bank wasn't needed in Ryderwood because "nobody got that much money. Most of it was spent [on coupons and rent] before the people got it. There wasn't much to spare." Perhaps the company made a conscious decision to not build a bank, thereby not providing a reminder of the far-stretched wages for its many employees who never had enough money left over to save. A physical reminder of their tight situation, such as a bank, could contribute to low morale or increased discontent come bargaining time. But whatever the reasons for not providing a bank, the company unwittingly may have done its employees a favor--at least there was no bank in town to fail, as so many did during the Depression.

WWII Comes to Ryderwood