I think some people may be misintepreting this number. The actual event was free to attend.
The $2 charge was not the admission price, but the cost of a round trip train ticket to the event from anywhere in Texas. Other possibly more reliable sources say that this ticket varied in price and was as much as $5 depending on origin: http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/crush.htm.
So while there was a lot of economic activity associated with the crash, it wasn't the equivalent of a modern event with $2.4 million of gate receipts.
The $2 charge was not the admission price, but the cost of a round trip train ticket to the event from anywhere in Texas. Other possibly more reliable sources say that this ticket varied in price and was as much as $5 depending on origin: http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/crush.htm.
So while there was a lot of economic activity associated with the crash, it wasn't the equivalent of a modern event with $2.4 million of gate receipts.