Preface • I Geographical Features & Political History • II Preparation Of Land & Cultivating & Harvesting Cotton • III Types Of Labor Used • IV Farm Tenancy & Its Problems • V Problems Of Cotton Marketing • VI Varieties Of Cotton • VII Weed & Insect Enemies & Their Control • VIII Conclusion • Bibliography • Individuals Interviewed

Texas A&M University History Professor Dale Baum purchased a copy of this thesis from the university's library and contributed it to this site.  It is used with permission of Manford Allen Jones, son of the author Manford Eugene Jones.  These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format by other organizations or individuals. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the written consent of Manford Allen Jones or contact William Kent Brunette, Robertson County TXGenWeb coordinator.

CHAPTER I:  GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES & POLITICAL HISTORY

The average reader and student of Texas history pays a great deal of attention to the more romantic features.  By this is meant the glamour of the great cattle industry, the immense wealth to be found in oil, and the challenge given to the imagination by the grand scale on which nature made the state,  However, it must be remembered that the same prosaic pattern of life that marked the first settlers' careers in the states from which they came influenced their lives in Texas.

Most of the first settlers came from the old southern states where the production of cotton and tobacco had been the chief industries.  A large number of these people abandoned the restricted and laborious life of the cotton producer when they reached Texas.  There was plenty of wild game and free grassland, so a patch of corn and a few cattle made an easy existence.

But, the people with more resources, such as money and slaves, soon came and started the production of cotton with much the same conditions they had experienced in their former homes.

The majority of slave owners began growing cotton on the rich bottom lands of rivers such as the Mississippi.  Therefore, when they came to Texas, it was only natural that the first planters would take the river bottoms.  So, the rather commonplace production of cotton, when compared to the excitement of cattle raising, has played a most prominent part in the development of Texas.

Brazos River

"The Brazos River, which was first called Brazos-de-Dios, is one of the largest rivers in Texas.  It is formed by the junction of the Clear and Salt forks in Young County, once known as the Staked Plan, between the parallels of 33 and 34 degrees.  It flows southeastward between the Colorado and Trinity, and after a course of about 900 miles falls into the Gulf of Mexico, between Quintana and Velasco, 40 miles west southwest of Galveston.  It is navigable by steamers during the wet season for about 300 miles and at all seasons to Columbia, 40 miles from its mouth.  Among the towns on its banks, the chief is Waco, about halfway from its mouth, now an important railway center.  The cotton plantations of the Brazos are highly productive.[1]

The portion of the Brazos between Waco and Hearne flows through what is known as the black-land region of Texas.  However, the river and its valley here are about the same as they are for fifty miles in either direction from the above towns.  The river valley begins to widen at Waco and varies from six to ten miles in width.  The Bosque River and the Little River are the only large streams entering the Brazos in this region.  There are some high bluffs near Waco.  Among the large trees which are native to the region are the oak, pecan, cottonwood, sycamore, and elm.  The soil is an accumulation of overflows and is a rich red loan with an almost inexhaustible amount of plant material.

The Brazos is subject to heavy overflows, and millions of dollars in products and hundreds of lives have been lost because of them.  In the area covered by this study, one of the most destructive was the flood in September, 1913.  At all point, the river reached the high-water mark of modern times and swept away livestock, crops, homes, gins, and practically everything that stood in its path.  The author once san an old Negro man whose fingers were permanently bent inward from clinging to a tree through several days and nights of this flood.  The only flood the author has seen on the Brazos was the one in October 1918, when the river was six miles wide at Marlin, Texas.

After each flood, there are considerable readjustment in land ownerships, as some of the planters are not able to survive the losses incurred.  A large number of the earlier plantation owners saved their profits against a good year, but not many modern owners do this.

Anyone who has lived near the Brazos or has seen one of its floods will realize the wonderful potentialities involved in the present reclamation project sponsored by the federal and state governments.  It involves the building of several large flood control dams on the upper reaches of the river and on its principal tributaries, the Little, the San Gabriel, and the Navasota.  When this program is completed, it will no doubt double or triple the present value of the land in the Brazos valley and make it one of the richest sections in the state.

Another characteristic of this river is its constantly changing and shifting channel.  Many bridges have fallen into the river because of being undermined at either end.  The largest concrete bridge ever constructed by the Texas State Highway Department spans the river at Waco.  One end of this bridge was almost undermined in September, 1936.  A large bridge near Marlin once fell in while being repaired, and several people, including the major of Marlin, were drowned.  A large bridge just south of Marlin has fallen in within the last two years because of the caving of the river banks.

The International & Great Northern Railroad, which parallels the river from Marlin to Hearne, has had to change it course of its track several times to accommodate the shifting river.  Another evidence of the changing course through the centuries is the fact that large gravel beds are found in all parts of the valley.  This gravel has been used commercially in all sections for building highways and as ballast on railroads.  Quicksand is found frequently, and many stories are told of cattle and men who became mired and met death from the sucking sand.  In fact, some early cattlemen kept one or two employees whose sole duty it was to ride the river banks and rescue cattle from the quicksand.

The Brazos valley along the middle section produces a variety of crops besides cotton.  The soil and climatic conditions are adapted to a wide group of plants, and the rainfall is abundant for ordinary farming purposes.  Some of the above-mentioned products are alfalfa, corn, oats, sorghum and Kaffir corn, and many kinds of vegetables and fruits.

Cotton

"More than a hundred years ago, a riding pony and a bolt of domestic cloth bartered in exchange for a league of land sealed an epoch which was destined to determine the wealth of Texas."

"According to historians, a pioneer by the name of Jared E. Groce entered Texas in 1821 with one hundred Negro slaves and a limited amount of cotton seed.  By Stephen F. Austin's colonial land grant, Groce was entitled to eighty acres of land for each slave introduced in addition to the acreage granted to himself and each member of his family.  Before a season had passed, this pioneer established and cultivated the first plantation in the history of Texas.  He strange barter brought him an entire league of land, whereon the town of Courtney, Texas, now stands."

"In 1825, Colonel Groce built a cotton gin on the banks of the Brazos at his home, 'Groce's Retreat,' and this was the first gin in Texas.  The next year the AUstins built one on the west side of the Brazos River, at about ten miles above Columbia.  This was burned and the place has been known ever since as "Burnt Gin Place."[2]

The story of early cotton production in Texas is continued in the next quotation:

"Information relative to the origin of cotton growing in Texas is meager.  It is known that Spanish explorers found cotton growing wild in Texas at any early date.  Cabeza de Baca relates that he found cotton growing wild  when he traversed Texas during the period 1527-36.  There was some cotton production in the vicinity of San Antonio late in the eighteenth century, but little is known of the amount produced.  Cotton growing on a commercial scale was practiced by the American colonists, the first of whom came with Stephen F. Austin and settled on the banks of the lower and later middle Brazos River in 1821.  Historical accounts which are now available point to the fact that one of the chief aims of these early colonists was to grow cotton on a commercial scale.  A few incidents in the early history of Austin's colony amply support this claim."

"On December 23, 1820, Moses Austin, father of Stephen F. Austin, was summoned to appear before Colonel Don Antonio Martinez in the city of San Fernando De Bexar.  One of the many questions asked Austin was his purpose of coming to the province of Texas, to which he replied through an interpreter: 'to provide for his subsistence by raining sugar and cotton.' Stephen F. Austin, in an address to his colonists, June 5, 1824, stated that cotton was the principal crop which was to raise them from poverty.  Again, in a memorial to the legislature, December 22, 1824, he asked that his colonists be protected against foreign indebtedness, and remarked: ... 'they will however be able by cultivating cotton to pay all of their debts if time is given them ...'  On another occasion, Austin makes the following recommendation to Governor Rafael Gonzales:  'Nothing but foreign commerce, particularly by the exportation of cotton to Europe, can enrich the inhabitants of this section of the state.'  J. E. B. and Stephen F. Austin, in a letter to Emily M. Perry, June 15, 1826, write: 'Our crops are very promising this season.  Considerable cotton will be made which will be inferior to none made in any part of the U.S.'  Another letter from Stephen F. Austin to his sister, Emily M. Perry, under date of August 21, 1826, from San Felipe De Austin, states: 'Our cotton is of superior quality and produces very well, the average height of cotton on the bottom lands is 9 to 12 feet and yields generally 2,500 to 3,000 pounds to the acre.'"

Additional information on the early production of cotton in Texas is furnished by a 'Statistical Report On Texas,' by Juan N. Almonte, 1835, in which he states that in 1833, two thousand bales of 450 pounds to the bale were ginning in the department of the Brazos.  In this department, there were three or four cotton gins with as many presses."[3]

Plantation Life

"Most of the Negroes had been brought by wagon from Alabama.  A man was worth from a thousand to twelve hundred dollars, and a woman from eight hundred to a thousand dollars.  Life on the plantation was well organized and systematic, making for the comfort and welfare of all without overburdening a single worker.  There was a Negress who cooked and another who sewed.  There was a Negro milker and a Negro gardener.  A girl had the making of beds in the big house, and another had the very special job of 'shooing out flies' - as the window screen was not yet invented."

"These Negroes were proud of their 'White folks.'  If, perchance, one should marry over into another plantation, their masters would try to arrange a sale to adjust things to their liking.  However, they did not visit back and forth without a permit.  Small Negroes were well cared for while their elders were at work.  An old mammy prepared their meals.  The milk from ten to twenty cows insured well-filled 'tummies.'"

"When the first cold days came in the fall, seventy-five or more hogs were killed, the Negroes making a holiday of it.  Hams and bacon were hung in the big log smokehouse, and the women were busy rendering lard and stuffing sausage.  Material for clothing came from the soil.  Women wove the cloth on handmade looms from homespun thread, dyed with the juice of native trees and plants."

"Clothing for the whites - cloth by the bolt, coffee, sugar, and other staples - would all have to come from Galveston, the port of entry from Europe, or from the states.  During the Civil War blockade, Brownsville was the only port open.  Farms would send cotton in charge of some man hired for the purposes.  He would carry with him long lists of merchandise to fetch back.  The last wagon train load sent by Dr. Lockhart during the Civil War was confiscated.  There is recorded with the Court of Claims in Washington, D.C., a claim for this amounting to $45,000, at the present day.  When, on account of these long trips, the coffee became scarce, okra would be parched and mixed with it.  Wheat flour was only for Sunday use.  On weekdays, it was cornmeal cakes.  However, there were plenty of chickens, turkeys, and the like; while the orchards grew peaches, plums, figs, and other fruits.  There was never really any want.  Corn went to the neighboring mill every Saturday.  Then would gather at the smokehouse representatives from each salve family to receive its portion of meal, bacon, and molasses."

"There was no corner grocery to run to when out of soap.  Soup had to be homemade.  Wood ashes contained in a v-shaped hopper were soaked with water, and port drippings were boiled up.  To these were added tallow; then the whole was boiled until it would jell.  The result was soap, which, to say the least, was cleansing.  Blueing was made from the indigo plant, and starch was made by soaking in water corn that was a little overripe."

"Eatables peculiar to plantation life included bacon and greens cooked together and called 'pot-liquor,' which went well with cornbread and plenty of molasses.  'Cush' was another standby, made with cornbread brought to a liquor with salt pork."

"The plantation's houses were constructed of timber, cut from its broad acres.  Those built of red cedar and of walnut lasted many long years.  The Lockhart home - a story and a half, with fluted pillars and old fashioned dormer windows - was one of the first plastered houses in that part of the country.  A long row of crepe-myrtles stood in front, exuberant in spring with crinkled blossoms of watermelon pink."

"The Negro quarters faced upon a lane, with trees and rose bushes in front of each.  Every family had its own home and its own provisions.  Fruit was dried on scaffolds; sweet and Irish potatoes were heaped in mounds, covered with corn stalks, and left for the winter."

"The plantation boasted a store, a blacksmith shop, and a cotton gin.  The latter was run by mule power, the mules being hitched to a long sweep, which went round and round, and upon which children could ride to their great delight.  Mules and oxen were used for the plowing and freighting; horses, to ride.  Every girl as well as boy could ride, and children rode and from school."

"Sunday was an austere day.  The children went to Sunday School in the family carriage with a coachman.  A colored boy would go along, provided with a silver cup in which to carry water to the children when they were thirsty.  The father and mother drove by themselves in a buggy.  In those, young men and women went to church together, but sat in separate sections.  Only married couples sat together.  In the home, the piano was closed on Sunday, and no cards were allowed.  As the years passed, however, the Doctor and his wife grew more liberal in their views, and permitted music, dancing, and cards."[4]

Natural Landscape

"Mr. Marlin got down from his horse and cut the (buffalo's) tongue out and tied it to his saddle, and on we went for the station.  But, before leaving the spot where the buffalo fell, we took a view of the surrounding country.  We were on one of two high hills that overlook the Brazos valley.  Far above the trees of the vale, our vision was unobstructed for miles and miles.  Far below us in the fertile valley, hundred, and perhaps thousands, of buffalo were lazily feeding, up to their sides in wild rye and other luxuriant grasses, not not knowing that the White man was invading their country and that the advance guard were then looking down on them as they were feeding so leisurely in their solitude.  Little did they know that that same race would be at some time not far in the future, the means of their extinction; that by the deadly crack of their rifles, they would be swept from the face of the earth."[5]

A summary of the earliest settlements along the central portion of the Brazos suggests itself at this point.

Milam County

"The history of Milam County begins with the empresario grant made to Robert Leftwich in April, 1825.  This grant covered the territory north from the San Antonio Road, between the Navasota River and the ridge dividing the waters of the Colorado from the Brazos, so that the northern portion of the present counties of Brazos, Burleson, and Lee, and a large territory of Central Texas to the north were included in the tract.  In 1827, Leftwich turned over his contract to the Nashville Colonization Company of Tennessee, whose active agent was Sterling C. Robertson."[6]

Robertson's rights to make grants of land to the settlers were taken away from him on two later occasions, and finally were given to Austin and Williams.  However, Robertson's colonists retained their land and titles.

"The Milam territory was first known as Viesca (from the last governor of Texs and Coahuila) and the town of Viesca was founded at the Falls of the Brazos (in Falls County).  On December 27, 1835, the Texas provisional government decreed that 'the town at the falls of the Brazos River of the Nashville Colony, heretofore known by the name of Viesca,' should be changed to the name of Milam, and the name of the municipality was changed to correspond.  In 1837, this municipality was changed to Milam County, one of the 23 original counties.  On December 14, 1837, Milam County was divided to create Robertson County, and several counties were later created from Milam.  The county has had its present limits since 1850."[7]

Cotton was first planted in Milam County along the Brazos at the old town of Port Sullivan.[8]

Robertson County

"Robertson County was named for the empresario, Sterling Clack Robertson, whose Nashville Colony was planted in this and adjoining counties, principally west of the Brazos.  Robertson County was taken from the original Milam County.  The county, as created by the act of December 14, 1837, extended between the Brazos and Trinity rivers, from the San Antonio road to the north edge of the Cross Timbers, including several counties formed at a later date."

"Since the building of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, soon after the Civil War, this county has been one of the centers of cotton production.  This is one of the few counties in which the Negro population has increased as rapidly as the White.  Along the Brazos valley is almost a continuous plantation divided into hundreds of small plots cultivated by Negro tenants."[9]

The life along the portion of the Brazos in Robertson County is today more typical of the antebellum plantation life than any other section in Central Texas.  In Falls and McLennan counties, the farms are smaller and are worked chiefly by "day labor" or by the family of the owner.

A student of history can ride through the river bottom in this county and easily reconstruct in the imagination how it looked prior to the Civil War.  The long rows of Negro houses on the large farms are very similar to the slave cabins.  Most of the Negroes are direct descendants of slaves and have made very little progress in regard to education and general improvement.  "A Brazos Bottom Negro" is a term of contempt used by Negroes on the surrounding uplands.

The territory surrounding Hearne was the first to be planted in cotton in Robertson County.  Some of the earliest planters were:  Charlie Lewis, Horatio Hearne (for whom the town was named), Lewis W. Carr, R. J. White, Buck Watts, Edwin Wilson, & Charles G. Wood.[10]

Charles G. Wood came to Hearne about 1886 and was a convict sergeant for a Buck Watts, who owned a thousand acres between Hearne and Mumford.  Later, Charles Wood became Watts' partner and managed the plantation.[11]

An interesting project of the early cotton planters near Hearne was a private railroad to get their cotton out of the Bottom.  It was called the Hearne & Brazos Valley Railroad and had a capital stock of $50,000, all contributed by nearby plantation owners.  It was nearly twenty miles long.  Most of this railroad was built by convict labor, and the roadbed was constructed with hand shovels.  It was later sold to the Southern Pacific railroad system.

At the present time, the Southern Pacific and the International & Great Northern railroads have two sets of tracks each that serve the Bottom near Hearne.  The town is partly supported by railroad shops as well as by a large cotton seed oil mill and several gins.

Two of the oldest cotton centers in Robertson County were Old Sterling (named for Sterling Clack Robertson, the empresario) and Calvert.[12]  Old Sterling was between Calvert and the river.  When the Houston & Texas Central Railroad reached Calvert, the town of Sterling gradually disappeared until today nothing remains except a few old ruins.

Some of the earliest cotton planters at Old Sterling and near Calvert were:  Robert Calvert (who gave the town its name), Reuben Anderson, C. O. Bartlett, and a man by the name of Wilcox.  Reuben Anderson had two sons, Tom and Bill.  Their children and grandchildren now live in Calvert and control land first purchased by Reuben Anderson.

To trace the deeds of title to some of the plantations in this section is to recall that part of history in which Texas was a part of Mexico.  Not far from Calvert, was a league of land that was secured as a grant, from the Mexican State of Coahuila and Texas, by Jesse Webb in 1834.  At the death of Jesse Webb, his heirs sold the estate, and E. L. Webb, his son, sold to Robert Calvert two hundred and eighteen acres for six hundred dollars in July, 1855.  These facts were ascertained at Ben C. Love's abstract office in Franklin, the county seat of Robertson County.

Most of the land purchased by original cotton planters in this entire section cost them about two and one-half dollars an acre; the first crop usually paid for the investment.  That is quite a contrast to the present, for at the current price of fifty to one hundred dollars an acre, depending on location, it might take twenty years to pay for the same number of acres, since the margin of profit is so small.

From 1875 to past 1900, Calvert was the most important cotton center and market in central Texas.  This was the "heyday" of the Brazos bottom planter.  Labor and living expenses were cheap in general compared with the price received for cotton, so the margin of profit was great.  Then, too, the land was still highly productive, as it made a bale or a bale and a half of seed cotton an acre.  This was a period (1875 to 1900) when many planters built fine homes in Calvert and entertained and traveled in much the same manner as the antebellum planters in the old states.  Now, many of the plantations are heavily involved in debt, causing the homes to be neglected and rundown.  Although there has never been a widespread social distinction in Texas between the planters, the poor Whites, and the Negroes as in the old southern states, the closest approximation was in the towns of the Brazos Bottom during this period.

In 1882, Calvert received thirty thousand bales of cotton from three surrounding counties; and now a good year's receipts are around six thousand bales.  This is partly explained by the fact that the town does not now receive cotton from as great a distance as then, but it is chiefly due to the decreased yield of the land caused by the continuous planting of cotton.

As was true of all the other Bottom towns, cotton was hauled to Houston by oxen and mules prior to the coming of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad to Calvert in 1869.  The roads were extremely difficult and "boggy" in wet weather.  It has been said that enough oxen have been killed freighting cotton from Central Texas to Houston to pay for building the first twenty-five miles of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad.  The International & Great Northern Railroad built a road in 1900 between Calvert and the river, and a spur was built to the town.

One of Calvert's most interesting features is a gin that was once the largest in the world and was so featured in the geographies used in Texas schools.  Colonel J. H. Gibson first built this gin in 1875; at first it had only two stands.  Later, it had twenty stands and could gin four bales at once, with a daily output of one hundred and fifty bales.  It is now a gin and cotton oil mill and is operated by the descendants of Colonel Gibson.

Calvert is one of the few towns in Texas with a larger Negro population than White.  A number of stores and shops are owned and operated by Negroes - which fact is also unusual in Texas.  The main business street has an old and time-mellowed appearance.  The contrast between the Negro shanties across the tracks and the colonial homes of the planters makes this town a rather striking place to visit.

Falls County

"Falls County was created January 28, 1850.  That part west of the Brazos was taken from Milam County; and east of the river, from Robertson.  The act made the 'old municipal town of Viesca at the falls of the Brazos' the county seat until otherwise provided by law.  An act, September 4, 1850, ordered an election for location of the county seat, which was to be called Marlin."[13]

The first cotton in this county was planted at the falls along the Brazos River, but very little was planted prior to the Civil War.[14]

Marjorie Rogers, a lawyer in Marlin, the county seat of Falls County, has written many articles on the early history of Falls County that have appeared in the Dallas News and in periodicals.  The author is indebted to her for the following information.

The first years of the 1850s witnessed a new influx of settlers to Falls County of a different type from those who had previously come.  There were a large number of landed and wealthy salve holders.  Among them may be mentioned General Shields, who located on about three thousand acres around "The Point"; Churchill Jones, about the falls; Colonel Kezee, on the river' and the Billingsleys.  A good many of these cotton planters brought their slaves to Falls County on account of the current agitation of the slave question.  They thought that if slavery was abolished in the Old South, perhaps it would not be done away with in Texas or that probably they could move on to Mexico.

The period of the Civil War witnessed a great influx of refugees with large bands of slaves.  At the close of that conflict, many left the county for the Indian Territory in expectation of retaining their slaves.  When this hope proved vain, most of them returned to Texas.

The town of Marlin on the edge of the Bottom is Falls County's chief cotton center.  The Marlin Cotton Seed Oil Mill was built there in 1892 with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars.

McLennan County

"McLennan County was created by act of the legislature, January 22, 1850.  On the maps of that period, the only point designated in this vicinity was Waco village, which for years had been a rendezvous of the Waco and affiliated Indian tribes.  Remains of Indian houses, burial grounds, and fortifications were said to exist in Waco as late as 1872, in the vicinity lying north of Austin Street.  The Indian hostilities, which began with the Texas Revolution and which nearly depopulated the settlements along the Brazos, hindered the settlement of this region, and it was only after Texas entered the Union that adequate protection was afforded and immigration made headway."

"An item in the 'Texas Telegraph' of March 1, 1849, states that Waco village was about to be settled by Whites under the leadership of Captain Ross.  This was apparently the first systematic movement of White settlers into this territory.  One of the early settlers was Richard Coke, later Governor of Texas and United States Senator."

"In 1858, McLennan County was estimated to have a total population of 4, 526, including 1,938 slaves.  The decade of the 50s was a period of rapid immigration to Central and North Texas, and this county, which probably had only a few hundred inhabitants in 1850, had received a large share of the settlers.  As the the number of slaves was little less than the white population, the character of society and industry was typically southern.  While the plantation system was not so thoroughly developed as in many of the South Texas counties, there were many large farms, producing cotton, and worked by slave labor."

"During the Civil War, machinery for a cotton factory in Waco was brought from England through Mexico, and Waco still has a large cotton factory on the east side of the Brazos.  This is the only cotton factory along the central portion of the Brazos."

"Waco is in the heart of the most productive farming lands of the state.  Within a radius of one hundred miles, with Waco as a center, nearly two million people reside.  On account of the splendid railroad facilities, the statement often published that two million people can reach Waco in four hours' time is literally true.  In this same radius, two-thirds of the output of cotton in Texas is produced and about one-third of the entire cotton supply of the world is produced in this same radius.  McLennan County produces about 86,450 bales of cotton annually."[15]

According to Joe Goddard, who is now county surveyor of McLennan County, some of the earliest settlers who planted cotton on the Brazos in this county were W. W. Downs, James M. Warner, and Davis Gurley.  These men settled on the west side of the river south of Waco.  North of Waco, John Steinbech had a farm with a large cotton gin near the mouth of the Bosque River.  His place was known as Steinbech Bend.  Ade Rose had a plantation in the fork made by the Bosque and Brazos.

There were no cotton farms above Waco prior to the Civil War and not many slaves below Waco.  Most of the first cotton farms in McLennan County were established on the west side of the river, as the type of colonists who settled on the east side were restless and interested in the cattle business.