On the Road, Goodlett, TX - 8/26/2016

This morning we left Kirtland AFB and Albuquerque behind and continued east on I-40.  Not much to see along the interstate.  We continued on I-40 until we got thru Amarillo, TX.  On the east side of Amarillo we split off towards the southeast on US-287 which will eventually take us to Dallas where we will pick up I-20.  But for today our destination is the town of Goodlett, TX.  Don't get out your map and try to find it because unless you have a really detailed map you won't find it.

The town was founded in 1889 and its original name was Gypsum because there was a lot of that mineral in the area.  Its name was changed to Goodlett in 1909, named after the J.B. Goodlett Ranch which was located nearby.  In 1940 the population was 300, in 1980 it was 205, in 1990 it was 80 and today is is estimated to be around 138.  In its heyday this was cotton country and the RV park where we will be staying is the Old Town Cotton Gin RV Park just north of the town.

This turned out to be a very nice RV park with a very friendly manager on duty.  Here is a photo of us set up at our campsite.

This is central Texas and it was flat.  This RV park as you could tell from its name is the site of the old cotton gin that serviced the farmers in the area and they still have the gin.. The original  building now serves as the office for the RV park.  Here are photos of the building and the old gin.

Prior to the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 by Eli Whitney, cotton lint had to be separated from the seeds manually and it was a slow and tedious process.  The gin uses a spinning cylinder covered with small spikes to pull the lint thru a comb like filter that blocked the seeds.  The white bag was made by the Bemis company out of St. Louis, MO, and they manufactured feed bags and similar products starting in 1858.  They are still in business today making seam tapes and plastic packaging products.  The other bag is for the Quanah Cotton Co.  Quanah is a larger town just to the east of Goodlett.

The marking on the side of this gin state that this is a Munger Double Rib Huller Gin.  This is a brand of gin that was manufactured in Dallas in the mid 1880s and was distinguished by its use of fan driven pneumatic systems to move the cotton.  Here is a photo of some of the remains of the pneumatic ducting.

Just to the right of the gin is a drier that would dry the cotton lint before it was made into bales.

There was also some old equipment left over from the days of the cotton gin including this old Burroughs adding machine that probably dates from the 1920s.

This enamel lined wooden ice chest.  The label says that it is a Bohm Syphon Refrigerator made by the White Enamel Refrigerator Company in St. Paul, MN.  Their claim to fame was that they had a ventilation system that kept the interior of the refrigerator dry and that they were used by all of the great railroad systems.  Probably dates from around 1910.

And finally this Bucks gas range that dates from about 1920.

Interesting historical items.

Tomorrow we continue our way east but will not get out of Texas as our next stop is on the east edge of the state.