Picking Cotton

Sent to The Frederick Leader and The Frederick Press, November 15, 2011

This heavily damaged photo shows pioneer cotton pickers, date and location unknown.

Cotton Harvest important in County History

Cotton at Pioneer Townsite

From the earliest days of Tillman County’s settlement in 1901, cotton was king. The area’s moderate weather and rich soil made it an ideal location for growing cotton.

In the years following settlement cotton gins were built throughout the county. Most towns had more than one cotton gin and gins were also built in rural communities throughout the county.

Why so many gins?

Frederick gin yard, 1908

The processing capacity of most gins was limited, and in the early years hauling the cotton to the gin was not always an easy task. The closer the gin was to the field, the better.

From the earliest days, the cotton harvest in the late fall into early winter provided an economic boom for stores and other businesses.

Long cotton sacks for pulling cotton could be purchased in many stores, and most schools dismissed for at least a week in the fall so that students and families could “pull bolls”.

Foster-Harris Gin was located on N. 9th Street, Frederick

Pulling cotton was difficult backbreaking work.

Until mechanical cotton strippers became common in the late 1950s or early ‘60s, the cotton harvest involved pulling the cotton by hand.

A Frederick Press story from October 15, 1953, cited one Frederick resident, Mrs. Bonnie Pennycuff, for setting a cotton pulling record.

“CHAMPION COTTON PICKER”

“Mrs. Bonnie Pennycuff, 34, mother of five children, has gained herself a new name in the Tillman county cotton fields. She is known as the ‘Human Cotton Stripper’ after pulling 1,117 pounds of cotton in one day, from 8:45 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.

“Mrs. Pennycuff of South 12^th street in Frederick , and daughter of Mrs. Bessie Landrum, has been picking all season and has averaged from eight to nine hundred pounds a day, but she set a new record Thursday when she passed the 1100 mark. She has been working on the Oga Woodmore farm, northeast of town.”

The article is featured on a laminated full page copy of The Frederick Press that is currently on display at the Pioneer Townsite Museum. The paper was given to the Tillman County Historical Society by John David Pennycuff.

In the same issue of The Frederick Press was an indication that mechanical harvesting of the cotton crop was a trend that would soon overtake the traditional manual harvest.

A page one story announced a “Cotton Field Day” in which farmers could observe the best practices for raising cotton. The event, to be held October 20, 1953, at the H.E. McElroy farm northeast of Tipton, featured analysis of fertilizer types and other cotton growth practices. It also included demonstrations of three modern mechanical cotton strippers.

From Laing School, the McElroy farm was located five miles north and one-half mile east. The farm had been site of a plowing field day the previous July.

Within the coming decade, mechanical cotton stripping would become the norm. While the mechanical cotton strippers still involved a great deal of work, they allowed the harvest to be conducted in a cheaper, quicker, less labor-intensive process for farmers.

The mechanical cotton stripper brought the days of hand pulling cotton to a close.

Williams and Miller Gin in Frederick, 1916

Simmons Gin in Frederick, 1920

Joe Wynn is a member of the Tillman County Historical Society’s board of directors.

Area was marketed across nation

Sent to The Frederick Leader and The Frederick Press

November 9, 2010

Oklahoma Mutual Townsite Co.

Promoted Area in 1907

In the years following the Oklahoma land opening of 1901, the Oklahoma Mutual Townsite Company marketed the area throughout the nation to potential residents and investors.

The firm advertised city lots and farm land in the areas of Roosevelt, Frederick, Siboney (two miles north of present-day Manitou), and Hobart. R.L. Gosnell, one of Frederick’s founders, served as a vice president of the Oklahoma Mutual Townsite Company.

The firm’s promotional materials featured agricultural photos from bountiful fields, as well as pictures of city buildings and streets. The publications were designed to entice investors and future residents to this area.

An OMT publication from 1907 described crops that could be grown successfully in the Frederick area. Note that the account makes no reference to Tillman County, but to “Frederick country”. This is because, prior to statehood on November 16, 1907, Tillman County did not exist.

The OMT account of area crops in 1907 follows:

WHAT THEY GROW IN THE AREA

   SURROUNDING FREDERICK

Cotton: The King of the money crops is at home in this country making from one-half to one bale per acre. The crop is easily cultivated and can be raised and marketed here for almost one-half what it costs to cultivate the same number of acres in the older states. No fertilizer is needed to help along. A little work to keep clear of weeds and the land does the rest. Cotton requires about the same cultivation as corn.

Corn: The corn crops of the Frederick country have been the wonder of all who have investigated With new land and necessarily crude methods of cultivation the yield has averaged forty to fifty bushels per acre for the last three years and often it has far exceeded that in individual cases where the crop has had good cultivation and care. What one farm will make is this country is possible on almost any other farm with good cultivation.

Broom Corn: Oklahoma is the pioneer in broomcorn cultivation in the Southwest. The yield is of excellent quality and is equal to the best grown in the famous field of Illinois. The yield is generally about one-third of a ton per acre and brings from forty to eighty dollars per ton.

Wheat: Wheat is probably the most important crop of the Frederick country. The lands are peculiarly adapted to its growth and the yield is uniformly satisfactory as to quantity and quality. The yield per acre has averaged 20 bushels. Many crops that have been managed by careful farmers have made this year thirty bushels and over. The land is here and the yield depends largely on the care given it.

Oats: Oats are par excellence; the greatest crop to count up into bushels in this country – seventy-five and even eighty-five bushels being reported in many instances, while the average over the country this year will not be far from sixty bushels.

Alfalfa: This prince of forage crops is one of the staples of the Frederick country, growing luxuriantly and making from three to five crops per year and will average from one to two tons per acre each cutting. The hay equals the finest clover as a forage crop and is sure of high prices as the demand always exceeds the supply.

Apples: Apples do well in this country and our orchards are more eloquent witness to the truth of this statement than anything we can say on the subject. The country is not old enough to have any large bearing trees but the prospects are that in a few years the apple crop of the Frederick country will be a factor in the fruit supply.

Plums and Pears: Both do well and many farmers are setting out orchards of these kinds of fruit. Those trees that are old enough to yield show the most flattering results.

Peaches: Neither California with its famous fruit nor East Texas with its Elbertas can surpass the peaches in Frederick’s country for size or lusciousness. No country on earth can boast of finer peaches of any variety.

Grapes: The whole of Oklahoma country is famous for the fine quality of the grapes that grow luxuriantly wherever planted. The fruit of the vine in any place in this country is equal to that of the finest in California. As wine makers or for table use the Oklahoma grape cannot be excelled.

Melons: The famous Rocky Ford muskmelons can not excel in flavor the melons grown in the Frederick country. The yield is enormous and the quality second to none.

The Georgia watermelons have to go way back and sit down in the presence of the melons grown on the deep loam of the Frederick country. In size there are none that can beat them and in flavor none can equal.

Berries: Berries of all kinds do well. Blackberries and dewberries especially are very fine. This season dewberries have been grown that only required 24 to weigh one pound. The flavor of the berries equals some of the finest grown in the southern middle states which is said to produce the best in this line. The yield is far in excess of that section.

Vegetables: An inspection of the gardens in and around the city of Frederick will be the most convincing argument for the success of all kinds of vegetables.

What is Shipped: Will ship this season between 15,000 and 20,000 bales of cotton, 750 cars of corn and hundreds of cars of oats, wheat, milo maize, cotton seed, broomcorn, beside the cotton seed products from the new oil mill.”

Joe Wynn is a member of the Tillman County Historical Society Board. He can be contacted by e-mail at jawynn@cableone.net.