Craven County Digital History Exhibit

An old style, wood screw, plantation cotton press

Click on image above for a more detailed image

Title: An old style, wood screw, plantation cotton press

Creator: Reed, William Garrison

Subject: Cotton--Handling--North Carolina
                Cotton--North Carolina

Description: Image depicting a cotton-press, described by Reed as: "An Old Plantation Cotton-press.--Before the war every planter ginned and packed his own cotton, using one of these wooden screw-presses. The power was a pair of mules at the lower end of each of the arms, and with the help of about a dozen 'niggers' two bales a day could be packed. Yankee ingenuity has since devised an iron press, that six men can handle, and do three to four times as much work."

Date: October 1884

Type: Image

Format: 7-13/16x6 inches (199x150 mm)

Identifier: XXV.47

Source: Donated by William Garrison Reed, 1926.

Relation: One image from a collection of 48 images in a photo album.

Coverage: North Carolina

Rights: Permission to use this photograph must be obtained from the New Bern-Craven County Public Library, 400 Johnson Street, New Bern, NC 28560. Must cite as: William Garrison Reed Photo Album, New Bern-Craven County Public Library.


Return to "North Carolina Revisited" by William Garrison Reed

Images scanned and text prepared by Victor T. Jones, Jr.

This page last edited on 21 Aug 18.

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