Here are some of my notes of the Cotton Industry for railroad modeling...
Cotton production in US
total 13 2/3 million bales
Texas 4 1/4 million
other southern states 6 2/3 million
output to US mills 9 1/2 million bales
(85% of that to 4 states: Alabama, Georgia, N & S Carolina)
export 5 million bales
_Yearbook of Agriculture 1954_ p.449
28,000 bales on one platform, Paris,TX 1920?
_Journal of Tx Shortline RRs_ MayJuneJuly98 (Paris issue) p.26
mechanical cotton picker of 1950s, painting.
_Texas, Our Heritage_ (1962) p.324
IH-McCormack cotton picker of 1950s, _Texas, Our Heritage_ (1962 textbook) p.328
cotton bale weighing, gin interior. _Texas, Our Heritage_ (1962) p.329
U.S. Cotton Bale Dimensions
BAGS
Textile container manufacturers in Texas:
Houston 7 Dallas/FtWorth 3 Lubbock 1
per _Atlas of Texas_ p.69
COTTON PRODUCTION
heaviest (1959 figures) in belt from Port LaVaca to Gainsville,
in Valley, Lubbock area, TransPecos
substantial in "Cane Belt" AREA
almost NONE Harris, Galveston, East Texas counties.
-from _Atlas of Texas_ (Arbingust)
COTTON SURPLUS WAREHOUSING
Government warehouse of cotton for price stabilization. Adopted in 30s, surplus cleared out for WW2 usage, heavy civilian demand 1946, surpluses again by late 40s. In July 1955, surplus cotton from past crops totalled 11.1 million bales.
_The Life and Times of King Cotton_, David L. Cohn, Oxford U.Press,
1956 [CC Pub Lib 338.17 COH]
COTTON TEXTILE MILLING
Cotton mills in Texas:
Houston, Cero, New Braunfels, Brenham, Bonham, 2 Groesbeck
Corsicana, Hillsboro, Sherman, McKinney
Woolen mill: Brownwood, Post
_Atlas of Texas_ p.73
80% of the nation's cotton textile spindles and 82% of the looms in the Southern states (1955). North Carolina is heart of the cotton- textile industry, followed by South Carolina, Georgia, Massachusetts.
_The Life and Times of King Cotton_, David L. Cohn, Oxford U.Press,
1956 [CC Pub Lib 338.17 COH]
Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills plant in New Orleans for cotton, burlap & paper bags _Business Week_ Nov.12, 1955 p.75
Cottonseed
most sold to ginners, who sell to processors
Linters used in cellulose
Hull for feed
Oil
Cake or meal for feed
_Yearbook of Agriculture 1954_ p.449
COTTONSEED OIL
Cottonseed mills in 1953
5 in Rio Grande Valley
11 between CC and El Campo
12 in Brazos Valley
10 in Panhandle & San Angelo
4 El Paso
_Yearbook of Agriculture 1954_ p.457
Cottonseed oil mills 50 or more employees in Texas 1962
Lubbock 2 Ft Worth 2 Brenham Sealy Corpus Christi Alice
none East Texas
_Atlas of Texas_ p.75
__
description of Dallas Proctor & Gamble plant which
processes cottonseed oil into cooking & vegetable
oils. _WPA Dallas Guide_, p.349.
Coleman Cotton Oil Mill shown on 1930 plat of Coleman TX on ATSF
Temple-Texico line. _Sanborn's Insurance Maps_ at CC Pub Library,
COTTON PRODUCTS & BY PRODUCTS
chart and pix _World Book_, 1958 p.C-1766
Cottonseed
most sold to ginners, who sell to processors
Linters used in cellulose
Hull for feed
Oil
Cake or meal for feed
_Yearbook of Agriculture 1954_ p.449
EXPORT
Cotton, bulk to China, Iraq, Turkey, Yugoslavia
container to Germany, France, Spain, Italy
info from exhibit, Center for Transportation & Commerce, Galveston
Corpus Christi Port could load 2500 bales in one 8-hg\our day by the middle 1970s,
per _Corpus Christi: a picture postcard history_ pic.125
2 million- 500 lb bales exported/year in mid 1950s nationally
Cotton export 5 million bales _Yearbook of Agriculture 1954_ p.449
GINS
Historic cotton gins of Brazos Valley,
cotton museums & exhibits, _Texas Hwys_ Apr93 p.12-21.
The Joint Cotton Industry Bale Packaging Committee (JCIBPC) established the following guidelines in 2001 to clarify the dimensions of cotton bales compressed to U.S. Gin Universal Density Bale standards:
"…the outside bulge to bulge (thickness) dimensions shall average no greater than 33 inches (.84 m) and outliers are not to exceed 34 inches (.86 m)."