Ragnar's Guide to the Underground Economy

2Ragnar’s Guide to the Underground EconomyThomas’ ancient Echo chain saw ran like a greased ghost.Probably it had come over on the Mayflower or maybe evenNoah’s ark, but it cut rounds as fast as I could stack them in theback of his truck. The battered and worn bed gave evidence thatthis particular truck had already hauled a cord or two of firewood.Thomas was surprised that an old duffer like me couldstill split rounds too big to lift. All this plus an hour of trivialsocializing finally opened up this gregarious guy to a few keyquestions from me about his underground earnings.“I only take wood I can easily reach from the road,” heexplained. “Just winter-fall Tamarack and red fir. I sell about 120cords per year for $100 per delivered cord,” he confessed. Hedidn’t say these were cash deals, but certainly it was obvious thatthis thought crossed both our minds.“A $100 cord of red fir is equivalent to between 36 and 40gallons of heating oil. At $1.30 per gallon, my heat isn’t muchof a financial bargain,” he explained. Thomas may have lookedand acted a bit like a redneck, but obviously he “sure weren’tno dummy.”“What happens in late spring when all the easy wood isgone?” I asked, not nearly as naively as it first appeared. Heanswered in a surprisingly forthright manner. “In winter I go toschool in Missoula. For income I mechanic on cars and truckswhile I’m at school.”“For yourself or for a garage?” I inquired“For myself, for cash,” he responded, grinning broadly.“Spring is mushroom hunting and drop horn collecting. Comefall I trophy-hunt big whitetail bucks for dudes. Good capes andhorns bring about $350 each, and I easy get a buck a pound forthe meat,” he added.Thomas didn’t actually say whether the $25,000 to $35,000he made each year was on or off the books. He already thoughtI was pretty smart, on top of being gregarious, and I didn’t wantto muck that up by asking too many dumb questions.Thomas had several other scams. “I go up to a fossil basinto collect stuff to wholesale to scientific supply houses. Also Iused to make good money collecting yew tree bark for the