CH. 18 King Cotton

• Cotton was called King Cotton, because it was the biggest cash crop

• Along with cattle, agriculture was very important to the post-civil war economy

How was King Cotton important the Texas Economy?

The Post-War Economy• Texans had invested a

lot of money into Confederate bonds to help pay for the war. After the war these bonds were worthless.

• Businesses sold goods to the confederacy on credit.

• This caused many businesses to fall into financial ruin when the war was over and ruined the economy

• Because of the financial hard times, families started small farms to get by.

• Most farmers ran subsistence farms. This means they grew just enough food to feed their families and had little to sell or barter.

Subsistence Farming

• But to farm you needed land and most Texans didn’t own any.

• Because there was no more slavery, big plantation owners need workers to work their land.

• The practice of tenant farming was started. • Tenant farmers rent land from large land

owners. • 38% of all farms in 1880 were tenant farms

Tenant Farming

• Another way to rent land was sharecropping.

• Farmers with no money to rent land would instead pay for the land with a share of the seasons crop.

• Freedman would mostly do this since they had little money.

Sharecroppers

• Tenant farmers who had their own supplies like mules, plows, seed, feed, and other supplies typically paid the landlord the value of a third of the cotton crop.

• Sharecroppers who supplied only their labor typically received half the crops.

• It was very tough for a sharecropper to get ahead.

The Exodusters• The Exodusters were freedmen from the south who moved to Kansas

because the state was rumored to give free land to former slaves. Many of these Exodusters were sharecroppers who were cheated out of their crops and suffered in poverty because they didn't make enough profit and had great debt.

Windmills• Windmills pumped water to the

surface for settlers and their livestock• Almost every farm had a windmill.• Windmill became a symbol of

civilization on the plainsSteel Plow

• A steel plow was stronger than previous iron plows

• The “Blue Kelly” steel plow was especially useful with the tough soil of the prairies

Innovations

Improved Cotton Gin• New innovations made

to the cotton gin made it more efficient

• The process became more of an industrial process

• This created a huge growth in cotton production

Railroads• Allowed farmers to move

goods faster and cheaper.• Between 1876 and 1885 the

railroads rapidly expanded in Texas.

• Shipping a bale of cotton 400 miles by ox cart took 14 days and cost $15

• Shipping a bale of cotton 400 miles by railroad took 1 day and cost $4

• Cotton ruled the farming industry in the late 1800’s.

• The railroads increased this.• Due to high demand in the east no crop

made more money.

Cotton Towns• The cotton industry contributed to the growth

of Houston, Galveston, and Waco.• These cities were tied to the success of the

cotton. A bad crop was bad for everybody.

• The Boll Weevil is an insect that came to Texas from Mexico around 1894.

• It infested all US cotton-growing areas by the 1920s, devastating the industry and the people working cotton.

• The Boll Weevil has cost cotton growers billions of dollars since.

• Many people have tried many different ways to eradicate the pest since, but modern pesticides seem to be working

Boll Weevil