W.A. George and The Doddridge Gin Company, Part One

Up until 1916, Zeak Pool owned and operated a steam powered cotton gin in the center of Doddridge. Then, in the summer of 1916, all of Doddridge east of the railroad burned to the ground, including the gin. The gin was a total loss except for the boiler, which remained intact.

For whatever reason, Mr. Pool retained the property for two more years but did not rebuild, nor did any of the subsequent owners of the property until 1924. Thus, Doddridge was without a gin for almost eight years. The township had one other small gin at Bright Star, and possibly one at Ravana . Ginning capacity in Sulphur Township was extremely limited in view of the amount of cotton production that was beginning to appear.

The cotton industry was overtaking the timber industry, which had been the economic mainstay since the early settlers came. The continual clearing of forests and the establishing of “new ground” brought about the planting of cotton in greater and greater quantities. Since cotton was in great demand, it became “king” because it was bringing farmers a good income. Merchants and other business people of Doddridge perceived that they were going to lose a great deal of business by not having a gin in the community.

This was the moment when William Albert George of Mcleod, Cass County, Texas, came upon the scene. Mcleod was located four or five miles west of Rodessa, Louisiana, just across the Texas-Louisiana line. Mr. George, who years later came to be affectionately referred to as “Ole Man Gin George,” turned out to be the exact person needed to operate a gin in Doddridge. It isn’t known how the merchants knew of his qualifications, nor how he happened to come there; nevertheless, they did urge him and pledged their backing to get a gin established.

W. A. George was born June 24, 1881, at Hayne, Cass County, Texas. He grew up on his parents’ farm and attended a log cabin school at the present site of the Good Exchange Church and Cemetery. In 1902, he received a diploma from Tyler College, Tyler, Texas, for a course in bookkeeping. For the next several years he worked with retail lumber companies and sawmills, being employed primarily in bookkeeping departments and company stores. From 1920 to 1923 he was with the bookkeeping department and store of the Clark-Morse Lumber Company at Derry, Louisiana. His brother-in-law was president and general manager of this mill.

It was with this background of experience that Mr. George began his venture by founding the Doddridge Gin Company in 1924. The original stockholders were W. A. George, president, and major stockholder; Richard Duty, secretary; Roy Fant of Linden, Texas, second largest stockholder; Mrs. J. E. George of Linden; Milton Winham, J. B. Hemperley, J. H. Atchison, E. L. Ramsey, Henry Field, and J. E. Brown, all of Doddridge.

The company’s plan was to build the gin in the same place where the old Pool gin had been. Going back to 1918, the following transactions took place concerning this property up to 1924, when it was purchased by the Doddridge Gin Company: On July 20, 1918, Zeak Pool and his wife, Rosabella (Rosie) sold the gin property along with the boiler to the Farmers Oil and Fertilizer Co. On the very same day, the Farmers Oil and Fertilizer Company sold the property to J. F. Smith. On April 21, 1919, J. F. Smith and wife sold the property to J. K. and L. D. Young. Finally, on June 27, 1924, the Youngs sold the property to the newly founded Doddridge Gin Company, under the management of W. A. George, President.

During the property transaction, preparation was already being made for constructing the gin. Consequently, the company managed to complete construction and begin operations by the late fall of this same year, 1924.

The gin was a Murray 4-70, which meant that it was composed of four gin stands, each stand containing seventy saws. It was the saws which did the actual job of stripping the cotton lint from the seeds. Power was from a newly acquired steam engine, and the boiler of course was that of the old Pool gin. It was a wood-fire boiler and therefore an inferno to fire on a hot fall day. Some of the names connected with the operation of the gin through the years were Henry Brown, stand man; Ross Evers, baling press; Alver Jones, baling press; Paul and Julius Bryant, boiler, and engine; Leola Mathis, boiler, and engine.

The gin started off with a brisk business; however, during the first two seasons a dependable source of water became a problem. During the dry summers, the small pond near the gin would become dry and water had to be hauled in barrels by the wagonload from Kennedy Branch a mile away to keep the gin in operation.

Another effort to obtain water was made when a very large well or open cistern was dug. The dimension was about twenty by twenty feet, but even with this effort sufficient water did not materialize. Finally, at some considerable expense, Mr. George contracted a drilling company to drill an artesian well. An artesian well is one from which water flows freely to the surface due to underground pressure. This well resolved the water problem. It also created a mild sensation in Doddridge because no one had seen a water well that gushed clear, cold water from deep in the earth. People came in sizeable numbers for a time to catch buckets of the cold, good-tasting water because it was considered to be very healthy, and even possibly to have curative powers.

Businesswise, the gin was a great success from the start. According to Mr. George’s son, William Alfred (known as W. A.) “As cotton was ‘King,” the gin prospered, a large amount coming from across Red River via the Spring Bank ferry. There were no gins in that part of the river bottoms. I heard my father say on several occasions, ‘I should have built the gin in the bottoms. ‘ One year in the late 1920s or early 1930s, they ginned around 3,000 bales.”

The second half of this article will be published next week.