Cotton Harvest ...and a Bit of History

Quite a few weeks ago, I showed photos of some of the cotton fields seen around the outskirts of the city. Well, they've all been harvested by now, and the fields are plowed for the next growing season. I've seen cotton bales just within the last two or three weeks...but, nothing like you see from yesteryear. They're baled in rolls now-a-days and wrapped in yellow plastic for protection from the elements before hauled and shipped out through the railroads and/or ships in the harbor....

Near Chapman Ranch, about 20 miles from Corpus, the area still has a standing and operating Cotton Gin. We've driven by it many times while heading toward Kingsville, Texas and farther south. But that isn't my post today. Remember when I posted a photo of a Quonset Hut? Behind that hut, by several hundred yards, I spotted a building of galvanized material that resembled by shape, a cotton gin. Right in the middle of a busy street!! I couldn't get it out of my mind. I searched the internet with local interest and found nothing on the history of the area. Then, one day while perusing our local newspaper online, I come across Corpus Christi in History...and clicked on it. There, in the annals of some articles, was an advertisement under the job listings...dated: circa late 1940s early 1950s [I can't recall the exact date]. It was an advertisement for jobs at a cotton gin....on what is now a city street here in town that I saw what I thought was an abandoned gin at the time of photographing the Quonset Hut!!! The address in the ad told me I was correct in assumption. I just had to drive back and try and get some photos while still not trespassing. All that much. lol

I pulled the car into a parking lot across the street from the Quonset Hut...grabbed my camera and crossed the street. I first took photos from the sidewalk, using my zoom lens. Then, either stupidity or bravery grabbed my psyche and I walked beyond the sidewalk, between the Quonset Hut and a large shed, then snapped a few more photos. By the time I took two or three photos I began leaving as quickly as I could, and behold...a city worker was mowing the high grass from the sidewalk! With the mowing, he helped me out somewhat, revealing an OLD railway track! I took photos of those tracks, still well hidden in the freshly mowed grass.  I'm really surprised I didn't trip and fall on them beforehand, and would still like to know the history of this particular cotton gin....

The Chapman Ranch Historical Marker
South Texas Cotton Gins
King Ranch - a Fortune Made Smuggling Cotton!






Linking to: Rubbish Tuesday - Nature Notes - Our World Tuesday

cotton bale image courtesy of Google Image search