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Question about Texas
TV program prop anomaly | 12/26/09 | DGHoodini

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?


TOPICS: Agriculture; Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; History
KEYWORDS: cotton; crops; dumbquestion; history; texas
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To: DGHoodini

You did know that Texas is on the Gulf (Of Mexico) Coast?


61 posted on 12/26/2009 8:12:13 PM PST by Deaf Smith
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To: DGHoodini

You bet lots of cotton. In the spring, I go passed lots of fields full of cotton.


62 posted on 12/26/2009 8:15:16 PM PST by shield (A wise man's heart is at his RIGHT hand;but a fool's heart at his LEFT. Ecc 10:2)
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To: DGHoodini
You might also be surprised to know that RICE is extensively grown in Texas. They are many different kinds, and flavors, of rice and some of the finest in the world is grown there(in Texas).

Texas Basmati Rice is real real good...and smells good also!
63 posted on 12/26/2009 8:15:20 PM PST by Tainan (Cogito, ergo conservatus)
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To: Deaf Smith

Yessssssss, I just was thinking they were not well developed transportation-wise, to get cotton to the Gulf ports. I was under a false impression, apparently.


64 posted on 12/26/2009 8:19:13 PM PST by DGHoodini (Iran Azadi!)
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To: DGHoodini
Did you know that Texas was a major supplier of a ingredient for gunpowder (black powder) for the Confederacy? 20 points if you guess what that was and where from.

We did have use of the wheel back then and used the same type of mules & horses as the other Southern States.

65 posted on 12/26/2009 8:30:03 PM PST by Deaf Smith
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To: mylife

Gotta ask! What’s with all the neat Metros? My favorite car in all the world. My wife and I had one when we were newlyweds. Lasted until we had three kids and a dog!


66 posted on 12/26/2009 8:37:43 PM PST by jwparkerjr
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To: mylife

They give you one hell of a breakfast for the amount of money they charge.

Santa is a nice guy.


67 posted on 12/26/2009 8:38:47 PM PST by TheMom (I'm now a grandma! Welcome to the world Kaiden Thomas.)
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To: DGHoodini
I’m sorry, time’s up. The answer was Bat Dung, Brackettville, Texas.
68 posted on 12/26/2009 8:52:22 PM PST by Deaf Smith
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To: VOA


Was cotton ever a cash crop in Texas?

In case it hasn’t been mentioned on the thread, I do recall there was
a common expression for parts of Texas:

“The darkest soil, the whitest cotton

There was a sign at the Greenville, Tx. City Limit sign that read: “Welcome to Greenville, Texas where we have the blackest land and the Whitest people in the world”.


69 posted on 12/26/2009 8:59:59 PM PST by BnBlFlag (Deo Vindice/Semper Fidelis "Ya gotta saddle up your boys; Ya gotta draw a hard line")
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To: Magic Fingers

exactly. It was the same way.


70 posted on 12/26/2009 9:12:12 PM PST by GeronL (This is a tagline)
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To: Deaf Smith

My guess is urine. I know a John Morrison in Selma, Alabama used to go house to house collecting urine to be used in the making of gunpowder.

BTW the most modern and advanced black powder mill in the world was near Augusta, GA. The chemist in chief discovered several ways to purify the ingredients and the South’s powder was of much better quality than the North’s. It also produced far less smoke as most of it burned.

In fact Dupont made sure through political pull that the factory was destroyed after the war because it was making far better powder than they could.


71 posted on 12/26/2009 9:14:53 PM PST by yarddog
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To: TheMom

Yup, he was generous


72 posted on 12/26/2009 9:30:38 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of the Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: jwparkerjr

It was just a theme on a car show one week.

They do shows on bikes and cars and bands all the time


73 posted on 12/26/2009 9:35:50 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of the Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: JustaDumbBlonde

Thank-you for that bit of interesting information. I would have never had known if it weren’t for your post. I’d say you are an IntelligentBlonde! Thanks again for posting.


74 posted on 12/26/2009 10:40:31 PM PST by july4thfreedomfoundation (A Jimmy Carter got us a Ronald Reagan.....a Barack Obama will get us a Sarah Palin)
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To: B-Chan

“Modules.” I was wondering what they were called when I saw them in California. Thanks for posting.


75 posted on 12/26/2009 10:43:15 PM PST by july4thfreedomfoundation (A Jimmy Carter got us a Ronald Reagan.....a Barack Obama will get us a Sarah Palin)
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To: Richard Kimball
that doesn’t have anything to do with your original post.

But it sure was funny.

76 posted on 12/26/2009 10:52:07 PM PST by giotto
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To: DGHoodini

Yes...and it still is...Grape Fruit was a big crop during the depression as well down in the valley.


77 posted on 12/27/2009 12:29:50 AM PST by willyd (Reducing Taxes Reduces our Carbon Footprint)
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To: giotto

Yes, it was funny and image provoking! ;o)


78 posted on 12/27/2009 12:31:06 AM PST by DGHoodini (Iran Azadi!)
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To: DGHoodini
"My question would have been better asked as: ‘Was Texas a major Cotton producer pre-Civil War?’ It was more about economy and employmet in Texas, than about slavery, per se.

"I just didn’t think that cotton was produced in great amounts in Texas before there was suitable transportation routes developed to get the cotton crops to market"

I don't have a direct answer for you, but indirectly, ask yourself: in the pre-Civil War era, what were large numbers of slaves used for? Was it not primarily for growing cotton? So if you see a state with large numbers of slaves, can you not presume that large amounts of cotton were being grown?

So, how many slaves did Texas have in 1860, relative to other southern states?
Answer: Texas percentages were comparable to Upper South states like North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.

In Lower South states of South Carolina and Mississippi, slaves outnumbered free citizens.

In the Lower South states of Louisiana, Georgia and Florida, the number of slaves equalled the number of free citizens.

In the Upper South states of North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee, free outnumbered slaves by roughly two to one. Texas, even though geographically "Lower South" fell into this category.

Remember also, that in 1860, Texas was mostly unpopulated. It's free population then ranked behind such Lower South States as Alabama and Georgia, while already ahead of Mississippi, South Carolina and Florida.

For information on 1860 populations, check out this site.

For more information on Texas cotton, here is an interesting site.

79 posted on 12/29/2009 3:30:00 PM PST by BroJoeK (a little historical perspective...)
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To: DGHoodini

Have you not heard???? The only reason Obama will not speak down here is that every time he gets up on stage some cotton farmer from west Texas in the back of the room starts bidding on him.


80 posted on 12/29/2009 3:35:47 PM PST by eastforker (.If you design an idiot proof gadget, society will just build a better idiot!)
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