Thursday 7 February 2008

Jackson's Load

Yesterday, at a presentation by Brian Antonson in Mission, Sharon Syrette wondered what the weight would have been of the legendary $8,000 in gold that Jackson was said to have taken out.

There was no one who could figure that out then and there, but, aided by the Internet here is an answer--he would have carried about 12 kgs or 26 pounds in pure gold.

The average gold price in 1901-1902 was about $21 per troy ounce. That makes 381 t.oz out of $8.000. 1 t.oz = 0.031103 kgs. 381 t.oz. = 11.8504 kgs. 11.8504 kgs is 26.12566 lbs. A manageable pack in particular since as the "Jackson letter" tells us, he was running out of grub.

Today, 381 t.oz would yield $342,900. The buying power of the $8,000 of 1901 would "only" be $212,125 today.

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