Rekindled: Gold Medals, Cigar Factories, & Railroad Success (Part 4)

The Rise of East Texas Tobacco: Gold Medal Recognition

In 1904, cigar filler grown from Cuban seed, won the gold medal at the St. Louis Exposition, and for two years in succession, it won a gold medal at the Texas State Fair in Dallas. The type of tobacco first grown in these tests was known as “Little Cuba,” and although the leaf had excellent qualities of aroma and taste, the trade demanded a type of tobacco that produced higher yields to the acre and a greater percent of leaves suitable for cigar wrappers.

To meet this demand a hybrid tobacco known as “Big Cuba” was afterwards grown from Florida seed. Tobacco packing houses were established at Nacogdoches and Palestine, where tobacco grown by the farmers was fermented and prepared for market. These houses were owned and operated by dealers who purchased the leaf tobacco from the farmer, shipping the finished product to Chicago and other northern cities, as well as to cigar manufacturing centers in Louisiana and Florida.

Some of the excitement on the success of the Nacogdoches tobacco can be seen in letters written during that time (as illustrated in the newspaper clipping above).

How the Bureau's Report Boosted the Industry

With all the positive feedback and excitement surrounding the Nacogdoches tobacco, the Bureau published their final report, which said,

"The Department, having demonstrated by the investigation set
forth in this report that a good domestic filler tobacco can be grown
on the Orangeburg soils in East Texas, issued in January, 1905, a circular giving a brief outline of the work and showing the opportunities
for the production of a cigar leaf tobacco in East Texas; and this season (1905) about 150 acres are being grown on the Orangeburg soils in
Nacogdoches, Anderson, and Houston counties by the farmers.

A firm
having large interests in the tobacco business in Chicago, Ill., and Gadsden County, Fla ., has agreed to purchase from the growers at a
remunerative price all the tobacco produced, as soon as it shall have
been barn cured. It therefore appears that in the course of a few years,
if the industry be conducted on a conservative basis, the growing and
packing of tobacco can become an important industry of East Texas."

Tobacco barns began popping up all over the East Texas area for drying the harvest bundles of tobacco leaves. Several cigar factories popped up throughout East Texas as well in order to hand-roll the cured tobacco into fine, Cuban-style cigars (cigars were made entirely by hand until around 1920, when the first cigar-making machines entered the market).

The Railroad’s Role in Tobacco’s Growth

Steam-powered trains transported top-quality cigars from all over East Texas to Galveston’s busy port, where sailing vessels shipped them to U.S. and foreign markets. Colonel S.F.B. Morse, manager of the Atlantic passenger system for Southern Pacific Railroad, recognized the untapped potential of tobacco. He saw an opportunity to generate new revenue by shipping East Texas tobacco to Houston for cigar production. With the railroad’s support, a wave of speculators quickly followed suit.