Cotton Distribution from the Goodlett Cotton Gin

Once the cotton fibers were separated from the cotton seeds by the gin stands, they would be packed into tightly-packed bales for transport, carried out the small back door onto a loading dock, where they would be loaded onto horse-drawn wagons, flatbed rail cars or boxcars, or even trucks in later years.

Cotton lint was compressed into a bale for transport to market. The Munger Ginning System utilized a double box press (A) which sat on a revolving turntable. Batting was fed from the compressor into one box while the batting in the other box was being compressed into bales. Jute (burlap) bagging material plus metal bands were wrapped around the bale to secure it. After one box was filled and a bale completed in the other, the turntable revolved and the process began again. Cotton bales averaged 500 pounds in weight. Bales were loaded by a pulley/crane system from the second story dock onto awaiting wagons (and later trucks) for shipment to various markets.

The majority of agricultural production in Southwest Arkansas consisted of cotton growing until after World War II. Thus, Goodlett had an ample cotton supply for his ginning operation. Cotton bales were taken to market in Little Rock, Texarkana, and even Hope. Railroads were used to transport the cotton to factories or ports of shipping. But, the coming of synthetic fibers and the rising costs of cotton production in the 1950s caused the decline of the cotton market in Arkansas. In the 1960s, the Goodlett family shut down the gin stands, and in the late 1970s it was donated to the state park and later relocated to this location piece-by-piece.

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