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<br />i ntennittent streams, but 1 a ter the wi ndmi 11 became common, pumpi ng <br />from deep wells into large earthen tanks. A large sheep ranch, <br />established in Lynn County by Tahoka Lake, was among the very first <br />closed-range ranches. <br />At the turn of the century, fencing of the range and farming <br />began. W, P. Florence of Floyd County plowed up five acres in 1900 <br />and planted the first cotton crop, among the early popular cash <br />crops, Well-adapted to the South Plains because of its drought <br />resistant characteristics. cotton became for the newly'arriving <br />settlers a profitable substitute for livestock raising. Floyd <br />County's first load of cotton was brought to town in 1903, and <br />its first cotton gin was built in 1905. Lynn County had its <br />first gin in 1906 and Lubbock in 1909. In 1908. at the site of <br />Crosby ton (later the County-seat), the C. B. 'Livestock Company, <br />seeing greater profits in cotton than in cattle, "broke out" <br />10,000 acres with the plow, built a steam gin, and advertized for <br />and subsidized new settlers to come out and start cotton farming. <br />The company built and furnished a schoolhouse. mercantile <br />supply house, blacksmith shop, hall for public worship and meetings, <br />and the Crosby ton Inn. The time of change was at hand, and this <br />was something of a model. C. W. Post was originating the same <br />kind of planned new-town development in Post, Garza County at <br />about the same time. <br />Despite the growing popularity of cotton, its production <br />is essentially restricted to the area south of 340 latitude. <br />The earliest staple grain crop of the South Plains before <br /> <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />- <br /> <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />. <br />. <br /> <br />IV-6 <br /> <br />I <br /> <br /> <br />Arthur D Little.lnc I <br />