Rare 1840s-1850s Railroad Firewood Token Dug Today In NC

[FoundInNC]

I made a pretty awesome find today. I dug this brass token/tag today in Mebane. The token was just positively identified as a "firewood check" for 1/4 cord of firewood....for a wood-powered train! The train came through Mebane in about 1845, so this token dates from 1845-1861, or when trains switched to coal. A cord of firewood only got a train about 60 miles so engineers would hand these tokens out to farmers in exchange for firewood. The token had to be cashed by the railroad company. This token was lost before it could be cashed! The 22 at the bottom of the token is the engine number. This is one of the more interesting things I have found. I hope to be able to find out what railroad company used the token.

My other two finds were a colonial brass button and a colonial tombac button. Thanks for taking the time to look!

 

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[Brian C.]

Nice find, it should have a rarity attached to it, check it out.

 

[Carolina Tom]

Nice finds. The tag is really sweet. GL&HH.

 

[g-olden years]

Wow! This token seems one of the best finds on t-net! It would be a rare farmer who'd be so careless to lose one of these due to the hard work he or his sons had done to produce the wood cut to railroad specs, not to mention the token's buying power when turned in to the railroad payout dude. Thanks for telling us the details of the tokens history! I didn't realize until now that trains ever ran on wood. Congrats! Andi

 

[idahotokens]

That is a great find! Actually, though, I wouldn't say that the railroad would "hand them out" in exchange for wood. I think the way it worked would be somebody would cut and stack wood by a specified stop - probably where the locomotive could also fill up on water, and one of these tokens would be exchanged by the station agent for ¼ cord. The woodcutter would have to then arrange with the railroad to exchange the token for whatever the going rate for wood was. There have been articles written on these cordwood tokens in the Journal of the Token and Medal Society, but I don't find my index where it should be.
John in the Great 208

 

[Mackaydon]

Great save !! The use of cord wood tokens was simple: Give the trainmen some tokens, they paid for the wood, and the sellers could redeem them for cash. Thus, the trainmen had no cash, the tokens were stamped with engine #s for tracking, and the RxR could trace usage.
Don...

 

[uglymailman]

Very cool. Hope you find what RR Co. they were for. Be nice if they would still honor it. A cord of wood here is like 120 bucks. 30 bucks. With interest over 150 yr.s they should buy you a new house. Good luck.

 

[Valley Ranger]

Very cool!

 

[CMDiamonddawg]

That firewood token is a top shelf awesome RR collector relic. Up North in 1837 a cord would sell for 5.66 to 6.25 and .75 to load it on the tender . It would get a loco moving uphill grades less than 40 miles , averaging a fossil fuel cost of 16 cents a mile . Really a Great find if your into old trains .


never saw one like it ,



CMDdawg

 

[sandchip]

Man, that is such a cool find!

 

[sonofdust]

I've never heard of one before but it sure is neat.
Please keep us posted.
HH

 

[whammy]

That is an awesome find. My uncle, who has passed away, told me when he was a boy, he took a team of horses in the woods, chopped down the tree, hauled it back to the farm house, cut it, split it and stacked it. He got a whopping .05 per cord, and he said he was making good money at the time.

 

[RJ55]

cool save.

 

[beez0404]

In the early 1830s the state of North Carolina was often laughed at because of it's lack of railroads. Commerce was at a standstill as there was no good method of transporting goods from one place to another. So many people left NC for SC and VA both of whom had much developed rail systems at that time. In 1832 the state of NC began making plans to link the NC coast to it's capital. The North Carolina Railroad was completed in 1856. It ran from the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad by Waynesborough, some four miles north of Smithfield, by Raleigh, Hillsborough, Graham, Greensborough, Lexington, Salisbury, Concord, to Charlotte, 223 miles in length. So it most likely passed through Mebane on it's way to Salisbury and eventually Charlotte.

LOVE THE TOKEN!!

 

[Helix]

Wow that is neat! I sell firewood and a full cord of fire wood is three face cords or three stacks total measurement of 4' wide, 4' tall and 8' long. Individual pieces would be 16" long. I would think those old wood powered steam trains could at least hold a full cord. At least those are the measurements and terms we use in our area, I know its different in other parts of the US.

 

[cambria09]

Hello FoundInNC. Ya' gotta love tokens especially ones with some history attached like yours. Nicest "wood" token I have ever seen. Thanks for posting it. C9

 

[Old Dude]

That is the most unique token I have seen posted in the last 2 years. Great find!