Cotttton by Noah Stover

Harvest and technology used

elladiamond1 — 2023-11-09 16:37:54 UTC

the technology used in the 1800s, consisted of cotton pickers, there was essentially no actual cotton seed seperator until the mid 1800s with the introduction of the cotton gin which seperated seed from cotton making the process faster making an explosion of cotton harvesting and new industry.

planting and harvesting

elladiamond1 — 2023-11-10 00:41:53 UTC

The black belt ran from Virginia to Texas significant for its distinctive culture and rich dark soil perfect for cotton.

Transportation

noahstover1 — 2023-11-10 00:48:09 UTC

The cotton was transported along rivers or canals such as the Erie Canal which connected the Atlantic ocean to the great lakes allowing for faster travel from the south to Chicago or other norther cities along the great lakes,

The Mississippi river was the main source of transport from the cotton hub of Mississippi

Workers/ slaves of the cotton crop

elladiamond1 — 2023-11-10 00:52:39 UTC

The slaves did most of the grunt work hand picking the cotton and hand picking the seeds out. Immigrants took up the factory jobs of being in hot factories, there were four main ones, picker makers in the workshop, piece maker in the spinning room, platers in the warehouse and quilters in the winding room. these groups would all focus on one main part of the whole product making the factories more efficient.

Factories and The Workers

noahstover1 — 2023-11-10 00:53:35 UTC

Factory conditions were often poor and dangerous, The pay was pennies on the hour. The workers were women and children from farming backgrounds since the men were doing the other labor jobs , the immigrant workers were mostly Irish and would work for cheap in the bad conditions because it was better than starving to death during the famine

Factory

elladiamond1 — 2023-11-10 01:03:13 UTC

Interchangeable parts were the biggest game changer for the cotton industry as it allowed for the making process of textiles.

Destination

noahstover1 — 2023-11-10 01:13:25 UTC

The cost of cotton comes out to $2.93 per pound in today's dollars or .18 cents back then

Cotton prices made up about 60% of us exports totaling around 200 million dollars

The workers in the factories made very little, while the field workers (slaves) made nothing

The plantation owners and cotton spinning factories made the money off of the product and the business was worth MILLIONS

Foreign Transportation

elladiamond1 — 2023-11-10 01:14:35 UTC

The textiles were sent to Liverpool located in London as Britain was a main trading partner with the US still.

The erie canal connected the midwest to the east making a faster transportation to the eastcoast ports. the textiles were then shipped off by steamboat to Liverpool port