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Rice
Still
Dominates
Jefferson
County
Agriculture
By W. T.
Block
Reprinted
from Beaumont
Enterprise,
Saturday May
29, 1999.
NEDERLAND
-- In 1849 a
Houston
newspaper
suggested to
farmers that
"...rice sold
at 75 cents a
bushel would
certainly be a
better
business than
cotton at 5
cents (a lb.)
or corn and
wheat at
present
prices..."
Nevertheless,
the advice
went unheeded
in Jefferson
County, where
only small
amounts of
rice for
family use
were planted
in rows;
almost no
cotton was
grown, and
raising cattle
remained
"king."
Before
1890,
Jefferson
County had no
agriculture
worthy of the
name; for 4
decades prior
to 1906
Beaumont did
not even have
a cotton gin.
Suddenly in
1886, Louis
Bordages, Dan
Wingate, and
Ed Carouthers
of Fannett
planted 100
acres of rice.
However it was
an influx of
Crowley, La.,
rice farmers,
that
instituted the
"grand march
to the rice
fields" in
1892.
In
1891, cleared,
prairie land
in Orange
County went
begging at $1
an acre. By
1895 such land
sold readily
at $6 an acre
and many
owners
demanded $8 an
acre for it.
In
1891 only
1,500 acres in
Jefferson
County were
devoted to
rice. By 1900,
there were
43,000 acres
in the county
planted in
rice, a figure
that increased
to 54,000
acres by 1904.
During
the 1890s,
most rice was
grown in the
Taylor’s-Hillebrand
Bayou
watershed,
from whence a
reliable
supply of
water was
available to
be pumped into
the fields.
Many farmers
in the
Hamshire-Nome-China
vicinity dug
wells 200 feet
deep, from
which they
flooded their
fields.
John
Reimershoffer
of Texas Star
Rice Mill of
Galveston gave
the Texas rice
industry its
greatest
impetus. In
1887 he bought
ten tons of
Louisiana rice
seed and
offered it
free in small
amounts to any
farmer that
would
experiment
with rice.
Nederland
was
intentionally
founded in
1898 to become
a "rice
capitol." The
Kansas City
Southern
Railroad built
a huge pumping
plant at Smith
Bluff that
flooded 25
miles of rice
canals. A
steady stream
of Dutch
colonists were
arriving to
buy the
railroad’s
surplus
acreage. Only
1,500 acres
were planted
in rice in
Nederland in
1899, but by
1904 the count
had increased
to 13,000
acres.
The
new rice mania
also set off a
period of rice
mill and rice
canal
construction
in Jefferson
County, and by
1900 four of
Texas’ eight
rice mills
were located
in this
county.
Beaumont Rice
Mill, Atlantic
Rice Mill, and
Hinz Rice Mill
were located
in Beaumont,
and Port
Arthur Rice
Mill was at
Port Arthur.
Orange Rice
Mill was built
at Orange, and
in 1904
Nederland Rice
Mill was built
at Nederland.
In
addition to
the Nederland
canal system,
Beaumont
Irrigation Co.
flooded 32,000
acres from its
canal system.
McFaddin-Weiss-Kyle
Canal Co.
pumped water
to 16,500
acres, and the
Neches Canal
Co. flooded
15,000 acres
at its peak.
In
1905 the
supply of rice
greatly
exceeded
demand; the
price per
barrel
plummeted, and
the Texas rice
farmers lost
$2,000,000
that year.
Rice millers
hurried off to
Europe to
generate new
markets for
their grain.
Certainly
one of this
county’s great
boons has been
the Texas A
& M
Experiment
Station at
Amelia, which
was founded in
1909. In more
recent times,
the rice crop
added
$17,000,000 to
Jefferson
County’s
economy in
1970, and
let’s hope it
continues to
prosper.
Nevertheless,
rice-growing
remains a
risky
endeavor,
which requires
large amounts
of land,
machinery, and
capital in
pursuit of it.
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