COTTON GAMBLE - GRANDPA’S GLASS PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES (Part 3)

Welcome back to the Grandpa’s Glass Series where I am sharing some behind the photo stories every Wednesday. If you missed any of those posts, they are linked below. But, today, I want to share a bit about why cotton is an element in Grandpa’s story.

Why Cotton?

My Grandpa was no stranger to hard work. There were many times when he held more than one job. But, cotton farming, and/or ginning cotton, almost always played a part in his livelihood.

In Texas, farming a crop of cotton is somewhat akin to being a gambler. The success of a farmer is intertwined with the rhythm and timing of the nebulous and unpredictable partner - Mother Nature.

When it is time for you to play your hand and plant your seeds, the game becomes a gamble of timing and weather. The timing of harvest becomes the central issue and factor for profits. The timing of rain can result in prosperity or wipe out your hand altogether. The weary farmer is always aware of threats such as hail and sandstorms in the area where Grandpa called home. The gravity of these threats is especially worrisome after the seedlings pop their tiny ear-like leaves from the ground.

Unlike the gambler, the work includes a physically taxing component. The farmer spends months of hoeing weeds, preventing the threat of boll weevils, handpicking the harvest, dragging heavy cotton sacks in a sprint against time to beat the rains… If you are still holding cards after all that, then the race begins … getting the cotton to the gin.

Journey to the Gin

September is generally when the bounty is loaded into cotton trailers and the sides of the roads become littered with soft puffs of errant white bolls that have escaped on the journey to the gin. The Gin represents the finish line for the race. It is a place of danger, long hours, hard work, mechanical genius, and old-fashioned efficiency all rolled into one. The gin is where the cotton is processed, the seeds are removed, the debris is eliminated. It is also where you cash-in your winnings to determine your profits or losses for the year.

Grandpa worked in cotton gins and there are many stories about his time as a “ginner”. He also grew crops of cotton, so he was familiar with both sides of the cotton game.

The work is back-breaking hard for uncertain rewards. But, much like the gambler, the cotton keeps you coming back because it somehow offers the promise of prosperity and better times with each hand you are dealt.

If you would like to view these images in a larger format, click on the image. Alternatively, these images are part of the Grandpa’s Glass series (HERE).