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COTTON
COTTON
IN TEXAS
Production, Gins, Scales and Cotton-Related Articles
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Long
before oil, cattle, and timber, cotton was the Texas economy. Only
ten years after Moses Austin received his first grant of land, cotton
made up $353,000 of the $500,000 of exports that year.
When Southerners moved to Texas, they planted what they knew - cotton.
During the Civil War it was Texas cotton moved to Mexico down the
"cotton road" that provided the only lifeline to the Confederacy.
After the civil war former slaves became free sharecroppers - but
the crop still remained cotton.
From .31 per pound in 1865 to only .05 per pound in 1898, cotton prices
ruled the Texas economy.
By 1910 half of everything planted in Texas was cotton. By 1928 they
had figured out how to irrigate the Panhandle and 17,000,000 more
acres were planted.
Here are personal stories of cotton picking and images of artifacts
of the cotton industry in Texas. Cotton Gins, harvesters, scales,
boll burners, and warehouses. Cotton festivals, "first bale" celebrations
and cotton "as art" in murals and architectural details.
© John Troesser
Anyone wishing to share stories, memories or photos of cotton in Texas,
please contact
us.
3-1-04 |
Featured
Cotton Articles
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The
Boll Weevil by Archie P. McDonald
Tex Ritter sang this lament decades ago:
“Oh, the boll weevil is a little black bug, come from Mexico they
say, come all the way to Texas, just looking for a place to stay,
just looking for a home, just looking for a home.” And the weevil,
actually a beetle, found it, much to the chagrin of East Texas cotton
growers.
Cotton
Picking by Mike Cox 1-11-07
Bagdad
by Mike Cox 4-3-07
Cotton, the economic life blood of Texas and the Confederacy, soon
made its way to Bagdad by riverboat, ship or ox-drawn wagons. From
the Mexican port, it could be shipped to Britain and other European
markets.
Napoleon
Bonaparte Wiess by W. T. Block 11-23-07
Steamboat Captain and Confederate Soldier.
The epics of William and Napoleon Wiess, which contributed to the
cotton steamboat history of East Texas.
Cotton
Farming in Verhalen, Texas 1-11-07
Waxahachie:
Where Cotton Reigned King (book review)
Our
Buick Pickup Truck by George Lester
We had cotton plants growing on either side of the Buick
Cotton
Days in Flomot
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Cotton Gins
Cotton
Gins in Texas 12-31-07
Nine vintage postcards from the William Beauchamp Collection
Afton
6-1-07
Ammannsville
old cotton gin
Bagby
Gin and Crew, 1912
The
Burton Cotton Gin
An
old cotton gin in Dime Box
Echo
4-21-08
Friendship
Gin
Funston
Cotton Gin
Gainesville
Cotton Gin
The
Inadale Gin
Ira's
Gin
The
old cotton gin in Luckenbach
Nolan
5-1-07
Old
Gin at Noodle, Texas
What
is left of the cotton gin in Odds
Pawnee
12-12-07
Point
8-12-07 (no photo)
Princeton
12-8-07
Rosebud
cotton gin 1-12-07
Shiro
former cotton gin
The
Tarzan Gin
Old
Gin in Walburg
Wilmeth
5-12-07
Cotton Artifacts
Claude
- Cotton Scale
1-17-08
Cotton Fair
Texas
Cotton Palace, circa 1909
Cotton Fields
Mackay
New
Sweden
Spunky
Flat School surrounded by young cotton
Vattmann
- School house, church and cotton field
An
oil well being drilled in the middle of a cotton field
Cotton Oil Mills
Itasca
Cotton Oil Mill, 1932
Cotton
Production
Chapman
Ranch - Cotton picker in action, compactor and cotton bale.
Cotton Scenes
Abilene
New
Boston street scene
Marshall
- "Hauling Cotton to Market"
Cotton Trucks & Wagons
Ballinger
Bremond
Sealy
Cotton Weigh Stations
Calvert
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Waxahachie:
Where Cotton Reigned King
by
Kelly McMichael Stott
Photographs Courtesy of The Ellis County Historical Museum
Arcadia Publishing's The Making of America Series. December 2002 |
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Cotton
gin in oil c. 1937.
Anyone knowing the artist or location, please contact
us.
Photo courtesy James and Kimel Baker |
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