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FARMING• After Civil War:– Bad economy -
Confederate bonds worthless (borrowed $)
– Many jobless; grow own food for survival – small family farms common
– Hard to find supplies for farms
– Subsistence farming – meet family’s needs• Bartered extras
Tenant Farming• Plantation owners – divided land and sold or
rented• Tenant farming – renting the land – Renter - Seldom able to purchase land; rent never ends– Between 1880-1900 – large growth
SHARECROPPING• Renters paying in crops – short of cash• Two types:– Owned farming equipment, bought supplies
• Owed landlord for used of land
– Landlord provided everything – tenants brought labor and skill• Owed up to half of crops to landlord
• Freedmen turned to sharecropping• Necessities bought on credit – renter’s share of crops
could be taken; established a cycle of debt
TRANSPORTATION• Needed for commercial agriculture– Goods inland; ox and cart too slow
• Panic of 1873 – collapse of stock market; closing of banks – businesses closed
• 1876 – 1885; rapid expansion of railroads• 1890 – more than 8,000 miles of track
TECHNOLOGY/WATER• Settlers – cheap land in W. TX; little
rainfall– Underground water; windmills
symbol of West• Railroads (miracles of modern
technology) – cheaper and faster to ship goods
• Steel plow – strong, lasts• Robert Munger – processing
cottonseed faster and cheaper; separated the seed from the cotton
COTTON• Cotton production – ruled industry late 1800s• Farmers spent most time in fields – buying
items they once made– Led to new industries; growth of cities (Houston,
Dallas, Galveston – cotton towns)– Lumber; 1900 – 637 sawmills– Created jobs – closely tied to farming
COTTON CULTURE• 1880s – Cotton was
King!!• Life revolved around
cotton – events were scheduled around farm work
• Bad years were felt by everyone– Droughts; boll weevil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YffLGzIlHwY