Posted on 12/26/2009 6:33:27 PM PST by DGHoodini
Just a quick question, that I am pretty sure I already know the answer to, but have a nagging doubt about:
Was cotton ever a cash crop in Texas?
I keep thinking 'No', but as I said, I'm getting a little voice in my head saying:"it might'a been...".
Anyone know the answer?
I am not certain but I would bet that Texas is the largest cotton grower in the nation.
I have several “Texas Cotton” western shirts. I love them.
yep!
I also just remembered that the “Cotton Bowl” is played in Texas.
OK, a follow up question: Was it historically so? One of the biggest producers? As in, before the Civil War?
/johnny
That’s my initial impression, also. Something like 30-40% of our cotton acreage might be in Texas.
Heck yes. I live in an old cotton capitol
I’m pretty sure that your question is Civil War related, and the answer is yes, Texas was a cotton state.
Even today, cotton is only second to beef in ag dollars.
From a tamu website:
“Texas leads the U.S. in cotton production and it is our leading cash crop, ranking only behind the beef and nursery industries in total cash receipts. In 2000, growers produced over 4 million bales, representing over $1 billion to the Texas cotton industry. Texas annually produces about 25% of the entire U.S. crop and plants over 6 million acres! That’s over 9,000 square miles of cotton fields.”
Cotton was and still is big business in Texas. Just do a google search on Texas Cotton, and you get 18,400,000 pages.
My family raised cotton, and it’s still a cash crop in central Texas. When my mom and dad moved into town, my mom became a beautician. My dad was always talking about moving back to the country. My mom told him, “I’ve picked every cotton boll I ever want to pick!” She also told him she had no intention of sitting on the back porch and watching the dogs f***, cause that’s all there is to do in the country, but that doesn’t have anything to do with your original post.
Thanks al for the replies...Somehow I got it in my head that cotton, pre-Civil War, was mostly a South Eastern and South Central U.S. crop.
My father wrecked the old cotton warehouses in Galveston, that is where he salvaged what I think were Galveston’s oldest fire hydrants dated from 1860.
Texas leads the U.S. in cotton production and it is our leading cash crop, ranking only behind the beef and nursery industries in total cash receipts. In 2000, growers produced over 4 million bales, representing over $1 billion to the Texas cotton industry. Texas annually produces about 25% of the entire U.S. crop and plants over 6 million acres! That’s over 9,000 square miles of cotton fields.
My daddy was a cotton picker when he was a kid, the whole family did it. Yes, they were poor.
Yes, immediately after Moses Austin recieved his land grants, cotton accounted for 70.6% of Texas exports.
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