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Cotton
harvesting
in
the
Upper
Keys
is
not
something
we
normally
think
of
doing;
however,
it
did
occur
in
the
1930s.
It
was
all
harvesting
though
-
no
planting!
The
Key
West
Citizen,
dated
November
21,
1935
reported:
“A
small
group
of
WPA
workers
was
employed
yesterday
and
today
on
the
eradication
of
the
wild
cotton
growths
in
Monroe
County.
.
.
.
Within
the
next
few
days
20
other
workers
will
be
assigned
to
the
project
at
Tavernier
and
20
at
Key
Largo.”
The
WPA
is
the
Works
Progress
Administration
created
in
1934
by
President
Franklin
Roosevelt
to
provide
jobs
during
the
Great
Depression.
He
had
other
work
programs
also
like
the
Civilian
Conservation
Corps
(CCC)
where
younger
men
did
conservation
project.
Many
public
parks
and
other
projects
were
made
by
these
men.
Later
in
1934,
another
program
called
the
Federal
Emergency
Relief
Administration
(FERA)
sent
World
War
One
veterans
to
the
Upper
Keys
to
build
highway
bridges.
Many
were
killed
in
the
1935
Hurricane.
(See
web
page
for
the
Hurricane
Memorial.)
The
overall
program
was
labeled
The
New
Deal.
There
appear
to
be
two
reasons
for
the
harvesting.
One
was
the
belief
that
the
"boll
weevil"
wintered
in
the
Keys
and
then
would
swoop
up
to
Georgia,
Alabama
and
Mississippi
to
ravage
the
cotton
fields.
Another
reason
was
that
the
Keys
could
provide
a
stepping
stone
for
the
Caribbean
island
"pink
boll
worm"
to
migrate
north
to
the
U.
S.
cotton
fields.
The
boll
weevil
originally
entered
the
U.S.
by
crossing
the
Rio
Grande
River
in
about
1892
and
rapidly
spread
throughout
southern
Texas.
By
1922
it
had
infected
85
percent
of
the
cotton
belt.
The
cotton
bolls
were
punctured
by
the
insects
and
their
eggs
laid
inside.
Within
a
week,
the
eggs
hatched
into
grubs
which
fed
from
the
inside
first
and
on
to
the
outside
in
its
pupae
stage.
The
entire
cycle
from
egg
to
adult
is
about
three
weeks
so
as
many
as
seven
generations
are
possible
in
a
single
growing
season.
The
grub-punctured
cotton
boll
will
either
shed
or
not
mature
properly.
Cotton
is
a
warm
weather
plant
and
loves
sunshine.
It
is
grown
in
areas
with
more
than
200
days
free
of
frost
and
with
a
temperature
of
70
degrees
or
more
for
the
most
part
of
that
period. 
The
cotton
in
the
Keys
is
the
Wild
or
Sea
Island
cotton
and
is
the
prehistoric
ancestor
of
our
domestic
cotton,
but
of
an
inferior
quality
for
commercial
use.
Wild
cotton
cannot
be
spun.
It
is
a
scrub,
but
grows
to
as
much
as
12
feet
in
height.
Just
how
this
cotton
got
here
originally
is
speculation,
but
some
think
that
it
was
brought
over
from
the
Bahamas.
It
was
known
that
it
was
the
cold
that
killed
the
U.S.
cotton
plants
and
that
the
Keys
did
not
have
that
severe
of
cold
weather.
The
Keys’
cotton
grew
all
year
long
for
years
without
dying
and
matured
into
huge
scrubs
or
trees.
This
gave
rise
to
the
concern
of
the
boll
weevil,
as
it
would
have
a
perpetual
home
in
the
Keys.
In
1932,
the
pink
boll
worm
was
found
in
south
Florida.
In
1933
under
the
Roosevelt
Administration,
the
federal
government
undertook
the
annihilation
of
cotton
in
the
Upper
Keys.
Documentation
of
the
work
can
be
obtained
from
the
Florida
WPA
files.
The
Key
West
Citizen
announced
the
Keys
project
in
their
November
21,
1935
issue
"Eradicating
Wild
Cotton
Growths
-
Small
Group
of
Workers
Were
Employed
Yesterday
and
Today."
Much
of
the
Keys
and
south
Florida
was
wilderness.
There
were
few
if
any
roads,
but
the
Keys
were
generally
accessible
by
water.
Similarly
to
Henry
Flagler,
they
utilized
quarterboats
as
work
crew
quarters.
These
were
living
quarters
built
on
available
used
river
barges.
The
one
above
was
converted
into
an
office,
then
a
storage
area
and
finally
disposed
of.
This
work
was
done
very
seriously
and
with
great
care.
Captain
Cliff
Carpenter
of
Tavernier
said
each
crew
consisted
of
one
white
supervisor
and
seven
or
eight
black
workers
with
machetes.
Mrs.
Laurette
(Pinder)
Russell
of
Islamorada
recalls
how
her
father,
Preston
Pinder,
was
one
of
the
"Cotton
Gang"
supervisors.
The
late
Roger
Albury
of
Tavernier
was
another
supervisor.
They
actually
stretched
strings
for
straight
paths
across
the
island
to
form
grids.
Paths
were
then
cut
perpendicularly
for
a
checkerboard
effect.
The
"Cotton
Gangs"
would
systematically
follow
the
crisscross
grid
of
paths
removing
every
cotton
plant,
roots
included.
The
plants
were
hauled
into
clearings
where
they
were
burned.
Captain
Cliff
said
the
work
went
on
for
years
and
resulted
in
the
almost
complete
annihilation
of
rattlesnakes
also.
One
of
the
Cotton
Gang
crew
boats
was
used
as
office
space
at
Pennekamp
Park
until
recently.
Miss
Lamar
Louis
Curry
of
Coral
Gables
recalled
how
she
and
her
friends
could
easily
walk
the
cotton
paths
from
bay
to
ocean
on
her
property
at
MM
97
and
of
the
apparent
eradication
of
the
rattlesnake.
She
also
told
how
oil
exploration
crews
later
used
these
paths
for
their
seismological
work
on
Key
Largo.
Ironically,
supposedly
as
a
result
of
the
extermination
effort,
Wild
Cotton,
Gossypium
hirsutum,
is
now
on
the
endangered
species
list.
For
anyone
wishing
to
see
the
plant,
there
is
a
small
growth
of
wild
cotton
shrubs
in
front
of
the
Keys’
Jewish
Community
Center
at
MM
93.5
oceanside.
They
are
about
4-5
feet
high
growing
between
the
decorator
palms
along
the
bike
path,
and
their
blooms
are
a
beautiful
light
yellow.
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