Scott
Scott, Mississippi. This is where the Delta and Pine Land Company had its plantation and main operations.
In the 1920-30s, the company operated the largest cotton plantation in the Mississippi Delta, with headquarters in Scott, Mississippi – straddling Hwy 1, fifteen miles north of Greenville, twenty-five miles southwest of Cleveland. In 1936 D&PL plantations yielded approximately 15,000 bales of cotton on 11,700 acres.
In the latter half of the 20th century, the company divested its farm lands, concentrated on research and development of cotton and soybean seeds, and became world-renown for its development of Deltapine cotton varieties.
In the 1920-30s, the company operated the largest cotton plantation in the Mississippi Delta, with headquarters in Scott, Mississippi – straddling Hwy 1, fifteen miles north of Greenville, twenty-five miles southwest of Cleveland. In 1936 D&PL plantations yielded approximately 15,000 bales of cotton on 11,700 acres.
In the latter half of the 20th century, the company divested its farm lands, concentrated on research and development of cotton and soybean seeds, and became world-renown for its development of Deltapine cotton varieties.
This is how the D&PL is described in the Mississippi WPA Federal Writer's Project book:
(Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration. The Viking Press, New York. 1938)
At Scott, 67.4 m. (140 alt., 300 pop.) are the headquarters of the Delta and Pine Land Co. Plantation, the country's largest plantation, containing 38,000 acres, 11,700 are in cotton; the whole is under the supervision of 12 unit managers, and is worked by 1000 black sharecroppers. The value of the property is about $5,000,000.
The company maintains a school, church, and hospital for tenants, the croppers paying a $.75-per-acre hospital fee annually - thus a man who worked 12 acres would be assessed $9 a year for hospitalization. Women are encouraged to go to the hospital for confinement rather than to depend upon midwives. Vaccination for small-pox and typhoid, inoculations against malaria, and anti-syphilitic injections are offered as part of the medical service. Tenant cabins, unscreened but stoutly built, are above the Delta average in quality. The tenants eat the usual pork, molasses, and cornbread, but an attempt is made to make up vitamin deficiencies by supplying them with free yeast. It is estimated that the average tenant here clears about $300 a year above subsistence.
Oscar Johnston, a native Mississippian, took over the management of the company in 1928; since then the plantation has shown a notable profit for the first time since its establishment in 1910. Johnston was in 1933 Finance Director of the AAA, and later manager of the Federal cotton pool.
The road leading from State 1 to the Scott railway station is an experiment made to find new uses for cotton. A heavy coat of tar was applied to the old graveled roadbed, over this was laid cotton fabric, and this in turn was overlaid with an asphalt coating. Theoretically, the cotton mesh absorbs moisture, thus lessening the amount of expansion and contractions of the roadbed caused by changes in temperature. These changes are in some part responsible for cracks in paving. The half-mile cotton textile road was built in 1935.
Marion Post Wolcott took these photos there October 1939.
I thought I'd try these as a slideshow. Just hover your pointer over the photo and controls will appear. You can auto play or go at your own pace by clicking the little arrows.
Thumbnail previews are across the bottom. They are selectable.
(Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration. The Viking Press, New York. 1938)
At Scott, 67.4 m. (140 alt., 300 pop.) are the headquarters of the Delta and Pine Land Co. Plantation, the country's largest plantation, containing 38,000 acres, 11,700 are in cotton; the whole is under the supervision of 12 unit managers, and is worked by 1000 black sharecroppers. The value of the property is about $5,000,000.
The company maintains a school, church, and hospital for tenants, the croppers paying a $.75-per-acre hospital fee annually - thus a man who worked 12 acres would be assessed $9 a year for hospitalization. Women are encouraged to go to the hospital for confinement rather than to depend upon midwives. Vaccination for small-pox and typhoid, inoculations against malaria, and anti-syphilitic injections are offered as part of the medical service. Tenant cabins, unscreened but stoutly built, are above the Delta average in quality. The tenants eat the usual pork, molasses, and cornbread, but an attempt is made to make up vitamin deficiencies by supplying them with free yeast. It is estimated that the average tenant here clears about $300 a year above subsistence.
Oscar Johnston, a native Mississippian, took over the management of the company in 1928; since then the plantation has shown a notable profit for the first time since its establishment in 1910. Johnston was in 1933 Finance Director of the AAA, and later manager of the Federal cotton pool.
The road leading from State 1 to the Scott railway station is an experiment made to find new uses for cotton. A heavy coat of tar was applied to the old graveled roadbed, over this was laid cotton fabric, and this in turn was overlaid with an asphalt coating. Theoretically, the cotton mesh absorbs moisture, thus lessening the amount of expansion and contractions of the roadbed caused by changes in temperature. These changes are in some part responsible for cracks in paving. The half-mile cotton textile road was built in 1935.
Marion Post Wolcott took these photos there October 1939.
I thought I'd try these as a slideshow. Just hover your pointer over the photo and controls will appear. You can auto play or go at your own pace by clicking the little arrows.
Thumbnail previews are across the bottom. They are selectable.
And here are some more recent photos at Scott.
