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 /digital2/reed/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.

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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.