Expenses for road to Ārciems

2 Names: Blaumanis, Ungurs

Here a document is presented with the expenses for building a road from the manor of Ārciems. The document shows the real value both of the road and of the labour of the country people in 1861.

At first some comments concerning the text of the document. A feet day i.e. a day of a worker without a horse cost 25 Kopecks, but for a horse day a worker and his horse earned 50 Kopecks per day. I think that the people worked all day along, perhaps it was about 12 hours or more. The payment for the ditch digger was much better. I think that he could earn about 1.5 Rouble per working day, if he could dig about 80 meters of ditch per day, but the digging of ditches was a really hard job. The total sum he earned - 220 Roubles was really great, for this money he could buy about 7 cows.

At the same time, the document also contains some information about the grain price. One Pūrs i.e. 69 Liters of rye cost 2.50 Roubles that is about 3.6 Kopecks for a Liter. It follows that a worker could earn about 7 Liters of rye per day. Not so bad, I think, if you need only food.

If totally 11.8 km of ditches were dig, it follows that the road was 5.9 km long and it was possible to build it in a summer.

Now the original text of the document. The English translation immediately follows the Latvian paragraphs.

Rehkinums par to Ahrzeem jauno Zeļļa taisischanu no Muischas lihds Puikel rohbeschai.
Pagastam:
Pee semmu willeschanas no Grahweem us widdu un Faschinu likschanas, zaur Muischas tihrumiem isgahjis essoht

The cost breakdown of the building of the new road from the Manor to the border with Puikeļi.
Pagasts spent for the road making through the fields of the Manor with moving the ground of the ditches to the subgrade and with installing of fascines:

In Latvian	In English	Sum in silver
54 kahju deenas uz deenu rehkina 25. K.S.	54 feet days each day 25 Kopecks silver	13.50
Pee zeļļu stiggoschanas un kruhmu zirschanas 81 deenas, par deenu rehkina 25 K.S.	81 day for opening and cleaning the road way, each day 25 Kopecks silver	20.25
Pee tiltu taisischanas 40 1/2 sirgu deenas, par deenu rehkina 50 K.S. istaisa	40.5 horse days at the building of bridges, each day 50 Kopecks silver	20.25
Un kahju deenas pee tiltu taisischanas isgahjuschas 40 1/2 us deenu rehkinahts 25 K.	40.5 feet days were spent for bridge building, each day 25 Kopecks	10.12 1/2
Grahwu razzejam par grahwu semmu islidsinaschanas ismaksahts 6 mehri Rudsu a. 2 Rub. 50 K.S. puhrā	6 Measures of rye to the ditch digger for making even the ground thrown on the subgrade, each Pūrs 2.50 Roubles silver. Comment: Two different volume units here are mixed - 1 Measure was 0.92 Pūrs. 1 Pūrs was 69 liters (ca 15 Eng. gallons).	15
Summā	Total	79.12 1/2
Grahwu razzeis Mikkel Blaumann dabbuja par assi 4 K.S. tas istaisa par 5530 assehm pehz pahrmehrischanas	The ditch digger Miķelis Blaumanis was paid 4 Kopecks in silver for a fathom (2.13 m) that makes for 5530 fathoms (11.8 km) after repeated measurement.	221.20
Summā	Total	300.32 1/2

Ahrzeem Muischā tai 21mā Dezember 1861

In Ārciems manor at December 21, 1861

Paggasta Wezzakais Gust Ungur

The chairman of pagasts Gusts Ungurs