When Cotton Was King

This is Marietta around 1901 or so. Cotton was the number one product that made some families rich and broke some other families' backs.

The timing of carrying your crop of cotton to the wholesale buyers was a gamble. One would never know until they got there at what price cotton was selling for per pound.

I know of one case where a guy held off carrying his cotton to market, holding until he predicted the price would be at its peak. When he carried it, it was at its peak alright, an inverted peak. That day was the lowest it had been in many years.

He was found in some woods the next day where he ended his life.