The Lake Jackson Plantation: Growing & Milling Sugar

I found the following online article about the Lake Jackson Plantation.  It gives a brief description of the plantation's history.  Note that it once included the Retrieve and Darrington estates, which eventually became prison farms.  It also summarizes the way sugar plantations operated.

The article is five pages long.  If you're interested in the history of the Texas sugar industry, the process of making sugar, and archeology, be sure to follow the additional links at the bottom of each page.

Click here for the article on the Jackson Plantation in Brazoria County.

1899 Flood

We've just had a torrential rains and major flooding in the past couple of days, so I thought I'd post a few articles about the epic flood of 1899.  The come from The Houston Daily Post published on Saturday, July 8, 1899.  I clipped these images from The Portal to Texas History, which is a fantastic site for historic images.  Click here to view the entire edition.

This first image shows an artist's rendering of the railroad depot at Sartartia.  (I believe it was located west of Sugar Land roughly where the entrance to Central Unit 1 is now located.  It may have been called Walker's Station as well as Sartartia.)

The Portal to Texas History

This next image is an article about the situation in Richmond.  Just a cautionary note: these articles contain language that may seem insensitive to modern readers.

The Portal to Texas History

People and organizations across the state participated in relief efforts.

The Portal to Texas History

Subsequent editions contain stories about the harrowing condition of people stranded by the flood.  In some cases, trains with relief supplies couldn't get through.  Here's a short article about the situation in Brazoria County.  (There was almost no flood control in those days.)

The Portal to Texas History

A Little More on Brazoria County History

I want to thank John Walker for letting me link to a couple of Brazosport Archeological Society monographs he has posted to his Web site, "Life On The Brazos River."

This first paper is on the Durazno Plantation, which was located on land Stephen F. Austin owned south of present-day Angleton.  Click here to view the paper.  Austin's nephew, William Joel Bryan, inherited the land through his mother (Austin's sister Emily) and eventually established a plantation there with a sugar mill.  The monograph goes into great detail about this site and includes numerous photos.

The next paper is also from the Brazosport Archeological Society.  Its topic is the Osceola Plantation up-river of Columbia.  This property is connected to the Austin family through James Austin, Stephen's brother.  Click here to view the paper.  The Archeological Society has done extensive research on the plantation - note the modern photos of its ruins included the paper.

Chenango Sugar Mill

The Kempner family owned sugar plantations before they acquired the Ellis Plantation (Sartartia) in 1906.  One of these properties was the Chenango Plantation in Otey, Texas north of Angleton.  They sold it and other properties before purchasing the Ellis Plantation.  I don't know this with any certainty, but it's likely Chenango was a source of raw sugar for Imperial's refinery.

 

Here is a short article that appeared in The Houston Chronicle in 1955.

Here are a few more pictures of Chenango.

  

Click here to view a picture of the mill taken in 1936.

Click here to view additional photos on the Brazoria County Historical Web site.  (Click on the photos to enlarge them.)