Agenda - 08-25-1997 - C2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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030 powerful role in the rural Piedmont as general stores became the principal sources for loans and credit. Merchants, as creditors, required repayment of loans with crops such as tobacco and cotton,which could be sold for cash. Thus, farmers became caught in a cycle of dependency,compelled to raise more and more cash crops to pay for staple items that had traditionally been produced on their own farms. Although tenancy enabled the sharecropper to buy land,the agricultural credit extended them caused many to fall into chronic debt. In addition to crop liens, farmers faced mounting taxes that were imposed during the late nineteenth century to pay for the building of railways and county roads(Ayers,as stated in Mattson 1996,p.38). Land tenancy, crop liens,higher taxes,and fence laws all colluded to lure the small farmer toward cash-crop agriculture and away from traditional self-sufficiency. The shift to the growing of cash crops was also encouraged given that their transport to market was facilitated by the introduction of the North Carolina Railroad which ran from Goldsboro to Charlotte via Hillsborough. Although semi-subsistent farming practices continued into the early twentieth century, farmers pursued the cultivation of bright-leaf tobacco as a cash crop. Corn,oats and wheat were important crops in the county throughout the nineteenth century; however, in the latter half of the century cotton became a significant cash crop in the southern county while most tobacco was produced in the northern county in which Cedar Grove is located(U.S. Census 1850- 1880). However,as more farmers entered the cash crop market,the competition caused the price of these crops to drastically drop. This fall in cash return was compounded by the 1890s national depression. Additionally,the relentless planting of these cash without rotation resulted in soil depletion and thus reduced per-acre crop production(Powell 1968,p.417). A loss of independence and mounting indebtedness characterized the plight of the county's farmers. Burdened by uncertainty and debt, farm laborers increasingly began to migrate to factories and cities. Early Twentieth Century to Post World War I With the arrival of the twentieth century,crop prices began to rise steadily and continued to do so throughout World War 1. While the traditional rural communities remained intact,the fruits of commercial farming were becoming clearly evident in the improvements made in the built environment. Gristmills and saw mills increased in number as well as product output,and cotton gins emerged along Cane Creek south of the railroad and Hillsborough(Branson 1889; Lefler and Wager 1953, pp.301-302).