While at the Pinal County Fairgrounds we marveled at the amount of cotton that had been and was in the process of being harvested. We watched as they worked and brought the cotton to the end of the field and put it in a machine that had no top or bottom and one end opened up. The cotton was placed in this machine and it would compact it using a hydraulic ram. It was packed so tightly that it would actually form a block of cotton. It appeared to be about 6 feet wide and maybe 7 feet tall and 25 to 30 feet long. After it was compacted the end of the machine would open up and it would be moved farther down the field to do the same thing again and again. The blocks of cotton would have a vinyl cover placed on the top to protect it from the elements. A truck would back up to the block of cotton and the bed would tilt and a continuous chain with teeth in it would pull the block into the truck and then it would be taken to the gin to be separated from the cotton seeds.
These photos are of cotton at a gin next to the fairgrounds waiting to be processed and to be put in burlap bales to be shipped. The piles of cotton seed would be shipped to another plant that would make it into cotton seed meal to be used for animal feed. Also, a portion of the seed could be used to replant the fields. We have noticed over the years that the cotton plants have changed considerably. Years ago the cotton plant would be about waist high, with cotton boles on the upper portion making it easier to pick by hand. Today the plant is much smaller, maybe knee high or a bit more and the cotton grows all the way down to almost the ground producing more cotton with less nutrition going to the stalk its self.
We found several gins all around this area and they all had a large amount of cotton to process and they were still hauling from the fields and still picking. You would not imagine that there could be so much cotton raised on desert land, just by adding some water. There is also a lot of alfalfa raised and bailed as well as a lot of grass and lots of sheep grazing in the grassy areas. All by just adding some water to the desert that otherwise would only grow some brushy type plants and rattle snakes.