I drove right through the heart of central California's big valley yesterday on state route 46. It connects the main north-south roads of the state, Highway 99 (the old main highway) and I-5 to the west. There is nothing much to see -- dairy farms, many ugly unattended brown fields, and acre upon acre of cotton fields. I bet many people do not know that cotton grows on plants. As a kid, when my family would pass through this area on family vacations, we would stop alongside the road and pick up cotton that lay on the ground. I did that again today -- to show my daughter when I get home. Cotton is picked by machine nowadays, a speedy process compared to olden times when "cotton pickers" did the job. In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, a machine that quickly and easily separated the cotton fibers from the seedpods and the sometimes sticky seeds. That was a big deal and enabled the cotton industry to move into warp speed.
When my husband & I were married 45 years ago we drove through the Central Valley to Southern Calif. I was a "City Girl", born & raised in San Francisco so was really interested in seeing the cotton in the fields. We also stopped & picked a couple of the pieces left after the machines had done their picking, and I saved them for our children. The 3 of them took them for 'show & tell' when they were in kindergarden & 1st grade.
ReplyDeleteI was also very interested in the cotton fields. It is surprising how many people have NO idea where cotton "comes from" ! I had a great time showing my daughters on our way to Disneyland,....many years ago!
ReplyDeleteLast April I traveled through Louisiana to New Orleans. On the way I say a museum of Cotton Plantation. I stopped and would recommend everyone do it as I had a real education. Many of the items they, the slaves, used were familiar to this SD Farm boy but cotton was new as were the processing functions. There was also a "Songs of the Blues" area that was really great.
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