Imperial County CA Archives History - Books .....Cotton Production 1918 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 14, 2006, 5:05 am Book Title: History Of Imperial County California COTTON PRODUCTION It is pleasant to record the rapid increase of the white-blossoming acreage of cotton during the last few years. Grown at first in an experimental way, it has now become one of the leading crops in the Valley. Statistics show that there were some 138,000 acres devoted to this important staple last year. The yield is placed at 7000 bales of cotton and 42,000 tons of cotton seed, exclusive of production in Mexico. This brought an average of thirty cents a pound for the cotton in the markets and $55 per ton for the seed. Thus the local growers in this largest irrigated area in the West received nearly $11,000,000 for their cotton crop alone last year. These enthusiastic cottonmen now propose to devote 150,000 acres to the growth of this great crop the coming year, and incidentally making this Valley the greatest cotton-producing region in the world. This surely is a proud record for an industry that began here only about nine years ago. In its report of cotton production last year the government Department of Agriculture gave the palm to Imperial Valley as leading all other sections in the average yield per acre, it being somewhat over 400 pounds. This was due in part to the absence of all cotton insect pests, the irrigation system, continuous sunlight and deep, fertile soil. Nearly one-half of this Valley crop is now grown in Lower California, there being some 65,000 acres in cotton in that region. Not a single specimen of either the boll-weevil or pink boll-worm, which causes so much damage and loss in other cotton-growing sections, has yet been found in this Valley, where every precaution is being taken to prevent their entrance. The superior quality of this Imperial cotton has attracted the attention of experts all over the country because of its fine fiber and cleanliness. Three varieties are grown here—the short staple, the Durango medium long staple and the Egyptian cotton. The latter, known as the Pima Egyptian, is being tried during the present year upon 5000 acres of land, with good results, the fiber selling for seventy-two cents per pound last fall. Several special gins for this fine fiber are being erected at Imperial, Seeley and elsewhere; and the farmers expect a return from this variety of $150 an acre or more. The total cost of production is estimated at $100 per acre, the average yield being about one bale of 500 pounds, which is worth, at present prices, about $360 and the seed about $40. The cost of producing a bale of the short staple cotton being about $55, leaves a net return of $75 under favorable conditions. It is, therefore, apparent that the cotton mill will soon be one of the leading features in the Valley. There are three cottonseed-oil mills in operation in the Valley, where the seed is crushed and the oil extracted. The "upland" cotton, grown so universally in the south Atlantic states, covers a large portion of this Valley acreage, and it has a longer fiber as grown here, bringing about twenty-four cents for the short staple. There are now in this Valley 22 cotton gins, three oil mills and two compressors, representing an investment of over one million dollars. Calexico, the border city of the Valley, is the great cotton center, which really contains the whole story of the growth and prosperity of that city. It now has nine gins and two oil mills, and with its half-million acres of irrigable land close at hand in Mexico, it seems destined to rapid and marvelous expansion. Even now some enthusiastic cottonmen in this great cotton center are predicting that the crop of 1918 on the Mexican lands in this Valley will approximate sixty thousand bales. Additional Comments: Extracted from: THE HISTORY OF IMPERIAL COUNTY CALIFORNIA EDITED BY F. C. FARR IN ONE VOLUME ILLUSTRATED Published by ELMS AND FRANKS BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 1918 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/imperial/history/1918/historyo/cottonpr221nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 4.5 Kb