Wayne Cartledge's Cotton-Farming Machinery -- Castolon Visitor Center, Big Bend NP TX - Old Agricultural Equipment on Waymarking.com

After the US Army's Castolon Cavalry Post was abandoned in 1921, Chisos Mining Company bookkeeper Wayne Cartledge bought the post buildings and surrounding acreage and started a modern mechanized cotton farming operation that did very well here, before going bust in 1942.

The huge rusting machines he used on the farm are on display at the old cavalry post, now used as the Castolon Visitor Center in Big Bend National Park.

An interpretive sign nearby gives some history of this difficult farming operation:

"COTTON BOOM IN CASTOLON

Before the 1920s, no one along this part of the Rio Grande had ever planted cotton. In 1922 businessman Wayne Cartledge began to sow that high dollar commercial crop in these river bottom fields. Cartledge also introduced steam and gasoline powered irrigation pumps that boosted his harvests. After 1923, he increased the value of his cotton by ginning it before he sold it -- that is by mechanically separating the tiny seeds from the fibers.

By 1942 mounting costs and falling prices ended La Harmonia’s cotton venture. Only the machines you see here today are left to remind us of this foray into large-scale farming."

Machines on display include an irrigation pump for moving water from the Rio Grande though the cotton fields, an enormous steam-powered boiler engine on wheels (not a tractor) made by the Brownell Company of Dayton OH that powered the pump, a Fairbanks-Morse diesel engine that might have powered the cotton gin, a mysterious engine with gears on a pedestal that night be the gin machinery.

We didn't do a lot of poking around in this machinery, because Blasterz know exceptional black widow and scorpion habitats when we see them, and we also know that it never gets cold enough here to freeze out these venomous pests.

Use or Purpose of Equipment: cotton farming Approximate age: 1920s Manufacturer and model: Fairbanks-Morse, The Brownell Co. of Dayton Ohio Still in Use?: No Location: At the Castolon Visitor Center in Big Bend National Park Fee for Access: yes

Visit Instructions:
To visit a waymark please post an original picture of the equipment and a short description of your experience.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log   03/15/2017 wb96bobwhite visited it 12/24/2016 Benchmark Blasterz visited it

View all visits/logs