# Scrip



## wildcatfan11 (Jun 12, 2010)

I found this piece of scrip while digging for bottles the other day. I was just curious if anyone here knows anything about it I know it was used as payment for miners. The side shown says Merchandise 100 Glen Mary Tenn. The reverse is still pretty rough and hard to make out in a photo but it says Crooke Coal & Mining 1883 it also has the 100 on it as well. I also found out that this mine opened in Scott County Tennessee in 1881.


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## surfaceone (Jun 12, 2010)

Hello wildcatfan,

 Nice token, but ya didn't have to bite a notch outta it.[8D]  

 "In Scott County, the beginnings of the coal industry can be traced back to 1880, when the first commercial mining in the area was undertaken near Glenmary.

 Here an Ohio businessman named J.S. Crooke found a promising vein of coal averaging two to four feet in thickness some two miles east of the depot on land owned by Andy Young. Buying up the mountain spur and surrounding land from Young for $500, Crooke began development of what would become the Coal Hill community by organizing the Crooke Coal Company on June 26, 1880â€¦

 Since there was no pool of miners to be had locally, the company initially brought in skilled immigrants who had worked the collieries of Wales and Englandâ€¦Later, blacksâ€”of whom large numbers had been transported into the area by the railroad from the urban centers of the Southâ€”were lured away from the tracks to labor in the mines.

 In 1884 Crooke sold â€¦to a groupâ€¦who organized the Glenmary coal and Coke Company on March 21 of that year." From.

 "There was a large company store that would make some of the stores in Oneida sit up and take notice; one could buy anything there from a toothpick to a piano. There were three large warehouses besides the main store, and deliveries were made with two big, fat mules and a wagon, which was going all the time. Everyone had money, plenty to eat and to wear; and it seems to me that they were much happier than we are now. At least, things were not done in such a hurry." Also from.

 With the short period of Crooke Coal, I'd expect your token to be a good. Did'ya eyeball or detect it? You might run it ny the Scott County Historical Society and see what they can tell you. Thanks for showing us.


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## wildcatfan11 (Jun 12, 2010)

Thanks for the info Surfaceone I just eyeballed it when I was digging I didnt know what it was at the time and just grabbed it and stuck it in my pocket.


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