Blackland Prairie Gin takes on region's cotton crop

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

Blackland Prairie Gin employees Troy Morris (left) and Wayne Smith work at one of the two gin stands. Lots of cotton is being harvested in Northeast Texas and the gin expects to generate 6,500 to 7,000 bales. -- Staff photo by Montgomery

Oct. 14, 2004 - Back in the Civil War times, cotton was king, and it was probably about then that the first cotton gin was built in Deport.

Today, there is still one cotton gin, Blackland Prairie Gin, in this small East Texas town, and according to owner Nancy Gresham, it is "the only cotton gin from Greenville to somewhere across the line in Arkansas."

Blackland Prairie Gin was originally named the Deport Gin, but the name was changed in 1964.

The Greshams (Nancy, and her husband Earl, who is now retired) acquired the gin in 1983. There were 1,240 bales of cotton ginned that season.

This year the gin is "looking at 6,500 to 7,000 bales" said Scott LaRue, gin manager. The largest season for the gin was in 1994 with 11,511 bales.

"The ginning season is usually from the latter part of September until the first part of November, but we have ginned until January," Gresham said.

The cotton industry has always been a part of the Greshams' lives. Earl worked in gins from East Texas to West Texas, and even in New Mexico. Nancy's father was a ginner. The couple's only child Randy was also involved in the running of the gin, as the gin manager, until June when he and office manager Karen Grossmann were killed in a motorcycle accident in Oklahoma. That tragedy has affected the gin in more than one way - but the most obvious, besides not seeing Randy, is the gin is only running one 12-hour shift this year as compared in recent years when two, 12-hour shifts occurred.

A module of cotton is unloaded at the gin in Deport. The modules have replaced cotton trailers, and they weigh between 19,000 and 24,000 pounds. -- Staff photo by Montgomery

Other changes have been Karen's identical twin Kathy is now the office manager and LaRue, a long-time employee of the gin, is the gin manager.

The gin operates with about 20 employees. "There are six full-time employees, and five to six who come back each year. The rest are seasonal," Nancy, who most affectionately call Ma, said.

Another faithful person at the gin is Rev. C.G. Renfro, who at 81 years of age, is still preaching, even though he said he is "semi-retired." Renfro, who helps with the company books, stated he remembered when there were 42 farmers in the area, now there are only seven.

LaRue added, "Every fall we ask Preacher if he's going to work the gin, and his reply is always 'if you need me I will.'"

Since Blackland Prairie Gin is the only gin in town, it is also the only place that has certified scales in the area, so it's common to see them being used to weigh cattle, logs, even a homemade trailer.

But, of course, the main function at the gin is to process the area's harvested cotton. How does a cotton gin work?

LaRue described the process, which begins at the farmer's field. The farmer strips the cotton from the stalk in the field and it's placed in a module (which resembles a huge bale of cotton). Modules have repalced cotton trailers. Weighing between 19,000 pounds and 24,000 pounds, the modules are picked up from the field by one of the gin's employees, and brought to the gin. The module is then loaded into the module feeder head, with the help of a walk-in floor.

"The walk-in floor was the first walk-in floor ever built for a gin. Randy (who was a certified welder) had designed and built the module feeder head which rips the cotton up. He called a rep and talked to them about what was needed. They designed the walk-in floor for the cotton gin. It opened their eyes to a new industry," LaRue said.

The feeder head rips up the cotton, which is then sucked into the gin's incline cleaner. The cleaner combs the cotton with air flow. The cotton is sucked into a machine which removes the burrs and sticks.

It is then dropped into the gin stand which removes more small trash and separates the lint from the seeds. The seeds are blown to the seed house, located behind the gin, and the lint proceeds to the lint cleaner. This is where the lint is cleaned of imperfections. The imperfections are sent into mote presses which conforms it into bales. These bales are used for batting and insulation.

Another example of the mote usage came in the daily mail. Nancy received a padded envelope. She tore into the padded part of the envelope, and to her surprise and others' in the office, there was moted material used for stuffing.

LaRue explained that once the lint leaves the lint cleaners, it proceeds to the press which presses the cleaned cotton into a cotton bale.

"The idea weight for a bale is 380 to 560 pounds. We try to hit as close to 500 pounds (as we can)," LaRue stated.

At the last stage of processing, workers take a sample from both sides of the bale. The samples are halved, with one half being sent to Abilene for grading, and the gin retaining the other half in case another sample is needed.

The grading of cotton consists of three parts: the staple, meaning the length of the cotton; the mic, which is the diameter of the strand; and the color. The better the grade, the better the price for the cotton.

Gresham concluded this has been a good year for cotton and "some farmers have harvested two bales per acre, which is exceptionally good."