Editing Mills County, Texas (section)

== Economy ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Economic Data for Mills County<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |title=How much do you know about your county? |url=https://explorer.naco.org/ |access-date=2022-11-14 |website=County Explorer |language=en}}</ref>
|2020 Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
|$201.8 M<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gross Domestic Product by County in Texas |url=https://txcip.org/tac/census/gdp.php?FIPS=48333&Yr=2020 |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=txcip.org}}</ref>
|-
|Commodity Totals - Sales, Measured in $
|$30,899,000<ref name=":15">{{Cite web |title=Census Data Query Tool |url=https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/CDQT/chapter/2/table/1/state/TX/county/333/year/2017 |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=www.nass.usda.gov}}</ref>
|-
|Crop Totals - Sales, Measured in $
|$2,439,000<ref name=":15" />
|-
|Animal Totals, Incl Products - Sales, Measured in $
|$28,459,000<ref name=":15" />
|-
|2021 Unemployment Rate
|4.4%<ref name=":14" />
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+Mills County Real Gross Domestic Product, 2018-2021<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce |date=January 23, 2023 |title=Gross Domestic Product by County, 2021 |url=https://www.bea.gov/sites/default/files/2022-12/lagdp1222.pdf |access-date=January 23, 2023 |website=Bureau of Economic Analysis}}</ref>
!2018
!2019
!2020
!2021
!2021 state rank
!2019 % change
!2020 % change
!2021 % change
!2021 % state rank
|-
|$174,264,000
|$190,467,000
|$196,656,000
|$191,994,000
|228
|9.3%
|3.2%
| -2.4%
|176
|}
The county has historically sustained its economy with farming and ranching operations of varying sizes, with small businesses and recreational hunting providing additional income.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":16">{{Cite book |last=Wall |first=[Carolyn] Earl |title=A Study of Political Attitudes in a Rural Texas County: a Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Government, Sam Houston State University |year=1972 |oclc=959557291}}</ref> By 1890, agriculture had established an economic base in the county.<ref name=":27" /> [[Agritourism]], including recreational hunting and fishing, continues to supplement the economy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sutherland |first=Kylee |date=2022 |title=Predator Association Helps Wildlife |journal=Mills County Hunting Guide}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=2021 |title=What is Agritourism? |journal=2021-22 Mills County Visitor Guide}}</ref> The county's [[deer]] population started growing after [[Cochliomyia|screwworm]] eradication programs were developed.<ref name=":32" />

Mineral resources in the county are minimal: a small vein of coal was discovered near Ebony around 1950, and Weston No. 1 Well, located in the Rock Springs Community, produced very little gas and oil.<ref name=":6" /> Much later, in 1982, oil made another appearance, yielding 28,122 barrels, yet by 1990, oil production ceased.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |date=2021 |title=Mills County was Carved from Four Area Counties |journal=Mills County Visitor Guide 2021 |page=22}}</ref>

=== Farming and ranching ===

==== Statistics ====
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+2017 Agricultural Value<ref>{{Cite web |date=Spring 2018 |title=Mills County Agriculture |url=https://mills.agrilife.org/newsletters/mills-county-agriculture/ |access-date=December 5, 2022}}</ref>
!Commodity
!2017 Estimated Dollars
|-
|Beef
|19,187,200
|-
|Milk
|6,000,000
|-
|Sheep
|5,859,600
|-
|Hay
|5,000,000
|-
|Hunting
|4,925,000
|-
|Goats
|2,874,000
|}
Records show that the county has featured a large population of sheep and goats.<ref name=":18" /> Sheep reached a peak of 133,737 head in 1940, and goats reached a peak of 118,009 in 1964. Cattle fluctuated from a low of 16,279 head in 1940 to a high of 48,901 in 1978.<ref name=":18" /> Total animal units in the county was 41,745 in 1935 before reaching a peak of 69,429 AU in 1969.<ref name=":18" />  The 2012 [[Census of agriculture|agricultural census]] reported 34,294 sheep, 23,325 goats, and 32,663 head of cattle, with 42,568 AU.<ref name=":18" /> Average ranch size was 109 hectares in 1935 before reaching a peak size of 256 hectares in 1969.<ref name=":18" /> The 2012 agricultural census reported a decrease to an average size of 219 hectares.<ref name=":18" />

By 1890, there were 680 farms and ranches in the county, consisting of 142,299 acres, with 25,000 head of cattle and 23,000 sheep.<ref name=":7" />

By 1930, the county produced 32,000 acres of cotton, 21,300 head of cattle, 68,000 goats (many raised for mohair), 78,000 sheep, and 67,000 chickens.<ref name=":7" />

In 1979, Mills County ranked among the top ten Texas counties in the mohair industry: eighth in number of Angora goats (38,000 head) and seventh in pounds of mohair produced (386,000 pounds).<ref name=":34" /> Total county income in 1979 from both mohair and wool reached more than $65.9 million.<ref name=":34">{{Cite web |last=Bridges |first=G. Frank |date=1980-07-10 |title=The Goldthwaite Eagle (Goldthwaite, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 13, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 10, 1980 |url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1651859/m1/8/zoom/ |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=The Portal to Texas History |language=English}}</ref>

==== General history ====
Farming and ranching in the county have historically had about equal importance, and most agricultural operations had both.<ref name=":39" /> The natural resources of pre-Mills county in Brown, Comanche, Hamilton, and Lampasas counties offered good support for early farming and ranching, yet most of the early settlers made their living by hunting.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":6" /> Game provided food and pelts were often sent to Houston to sell.<ref name=":6" /> By the early 1890s, large game such as bear, panther, and jaguar had been evacuated from the county, leaving hunters smaller game such as bobcat, fox, wolf, coon, and possums.<ref name=":6" /> Game was the only substantive food for early settlers; deer, however, served various needs: in many households, they were the main meat and they sold antler and skins.<ref name=":6" />

One report from 1957 identifies that only nineteen percent of the land can be tilled, placing an emphasis on grazing land.<ref name=":9" />

The cattle industry traces it beginnings to the first herd of long-horn cattle that arrived in Mills County in 1865, brought by J.H. Flower, which was followed shortly after by a huge herd purchased by John Williams.<ref name=":1" /> The yearling sale at Williams Ranch attracted buyers from Kansas or the [[Indian Territory]].<ref name=":6" /> Cattle roamed the open range before settlers started fencing their land in the mid-1860s.<ref name=":1" /> Barbed wire arrived in 1875 and by 1879 was widely available in Texas.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> Land owners often fenced in areas they did not own that sometimes included public water sources for livestock, which led to a fence-cutting epidemic in the mid-1880s, leading to legislation forbidding it.<ref name=":6" /> A severe drought in 1886 and 1887 led to cattle and horse deaths; whole herds of cattle left the country looking for water, and their owners sometime spent days hunting for them.<ref name=":6" /> Some ranchers drove the herds to other parts of Texas to find water.<ref name=":6" />

The cattle industry, from the beginning, has exhibited wild swings in prices in response to many factors, yet it remains a mainstay industry in Mills County.<ref name=":1" /> Early cattle trade in Mills County relied on the [[Fort Worth Stockyards]] for selling, but the local auction ring effected higher prices through bidding, rather than waiting to receive an offer from a buyer who came to visit a rancher's stock.<ref name=":1" /> Robert Briley started the first local auction that changed hands many times to become the Mills County Livestock Commission of Goldthwaite.<ref name=":1" /> Later to be called the Mills County Commission Company, at one time it was the largest sheep and goat sale in the world.<ref name=":6" /> An industry related to livestock buying and selling was the trucking business, which started before local auctions.<ref name=":1" /> Early trucking, which only required a license and a railroad permit, was pioneered by Everett Holland and Lindsay Kettle from Mullin and Slim Hurst from Star.<ref name=":1" />

Most of the early pioneers brought sheep when they arrived.<ref name=":1" /> Owners clipped wool by hand and sent the fiber by wagon train to be sold in Houston.<ref name=":1" /> The first local to have a sizable sheep herd was Eli Fairman, known as "Sheepman" Fairman.<ref name=":1" /> In May 1892, more than 200,000 pounds of wool shorn from Mills County sheep sold for eighteen cents a pound to a buyer in Boston and shipped by train from Goldthwaite.<ref name=":28">{{Cite web |title=The Goldthwaite Eagle - May 24, 2023 |url=https://1318.newstogo.us/editionviewer/default.aspx?Edition=b96a82ff-372a-4072-b980-969087fb9087 |access-date=2023-05-30 |website=1318.newstogo.us}}</ref> The first reported rail movement of mohair occurred on April 11, 1903, when a shipment of hair produced on the Elberta Ranch, located on South Bennett Creek, was sent to a processing mill in [[Lowell, Massachusetts]].<ref name=":28" /> By 1910, there were 4,239 head of Angora goats in the county.<ref name=":28" /> Blackwell Wool and Mohair served as the main agent for warehousing and selling the fibers for most of the twentieth century.<ref name=":28" /> Sheep and goats are credited with improving the economy of Mills County more than cattle, largely due to stable prices and the county having optimal conditions for raising them.<ref name=":1" /> For years, Mills County ranked second in the state for wool and mohair production.<ref name=":1" /> In 1944, Texas Railroad Commissioner Ernest O. Thompson announced that Texas lead all states in wool and mohair production.<ref name=":28" /> The mohair industry started declining around 1970 with the introduction of [[polyester]].<ref name=":28" /> In 1976, Mills County also ranked highest in the state for lamb feeding operations.<ref name=":1" /> More recently, meat goat production has eclipsed wool and mohair.<ref name=":32" /> Predator control continues to a challenge for sheep and goat populations in the county.<ref name=":32" />
The first farmers in pre-Mills county used three basic tools: a walking turning plow, a walking planter, and a walking cultivator.<ref name=":6" /> Grain has always been a prevalent crop.<ref name=":39" />[[File:Ca. 1900 Cotton Bales and Cotton Processing Goldthwaite Texas.jpg|thumb|Cotton bales and cotton processing facility in Goldthwaite, ca. 1900|277x277px]]By 1864, settlers started growing and harvesting cotton—the first bale of cotton was picked by W.F. Brown and ginned in Comanche.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":6" /> By 1910, cotton acreage had ballooned to 46,000; it was the main crop from 1887 through 1917.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> In 1899, ''The Goldthwaite Eagle'' published that "some of the farmers [in Pleasant Grove] have plowed up their wheat and planted cotton, calculating on 4 cents per pound ... we fear as long as cotton is the principle crop at the above prices our country will remain in an embarrassed condition financially."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=May 13, 1899 |title=Pleasant Grove |url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1098229/m1/2/zoom/?resolution=2&lat=5687.340991177749&lon=2223.393677006551 |journal=The Goldthwaite Eagle |volume=5 |issue=37 |page=2 |via=University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Jennie Trent Dew Library}}</ref> As the land was turned over to cotton, the cattle business shifted into western Texas.<ref name=":6" /> Families worked together during cotton picking time to collect bales that would be taken to town to sell.<ref name=":1" /> [[World War I]] disrupted the economy, leading to a decline in cotton production.<ref name=":6" /> The war also underscored the importance of crop diversification in Mills County.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> By 1930, there were 32,000 acres of county land planted in cotton.<ref name=":27" /> Cotton acreage reached a low of 2,078 in 1959, exacerbated by the [[boll weevil]].<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":7" />

In 1912, the Santa Fe Railroad published a pamphlet, ''[[:File:Practical Information for the Farmers of Central West Texas.pdf|Practical Information for the Farmers of Central West Texas]]'', which provided crop and livestock recommendations that the company claimed would thrive in the county.<ref name=":24" /> The publication also espoused the importance of agricultural diversification.<ref name=":24" />
[[File:Steam powered thresher, Mills County, Texas.jpg|left|thumb|Steam-powered thresher, Mills County, date unknown]]
By around 1912, most families owned a small amount of stock and farmed small grain as a necessity.<ref name=":6" /> At about the same time, steam [[Threshing machine|threshers]] hit the market in Mills County.<ref name=":6" /> Before then, farmers relied on horse-powered threshers.<ref name=":6" /> Threshing, which typically started in June and ran for about four weeks, was typically part of a community effort that included neighbors who hauled the grain to the barn and women that helped cook meals.<ref name=":1" /> A crew consisted of an engine man, fireman, separator man, sack holders, pitchers, and grain and water wagon drivers.<ref name=":6" /> Steam threshing crews could be "dependent" or "independent," which classified whether the wife of the crop's owner supplied meals.<ref name=":6" /> Most of the later crews were "independent," which meant they had their own cook shack.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":1" /> During this time, around ten threshing crews worked the summer months in Mills County.<ref name=":6" /> D.O. Simpson ran a threshing operation continuously from 1912 to 1938.<ref name=":39" /> His first machine was a J.I. Case rig that had a steam tractor and a separator.<ref name=":39" /> Bud Harper managed a threshing crew near Star.<ref name=":39" /> [[Combine harvester|Combines]] appeared suddenly in Mills County, pushing out not only threshing machines but also [[reaper]]s by 1939.<ref name=":6" /> ''The Goldthwaite Eagle'' published the first image of a tractor in the summer of 1915, a [[Case Corporation|Case]] Model 10–20.<ref name=":24" />

The 1920s brought prosperity to Mills County, yet booming oil business opportunities outside of Mills County caused many citizens to move for better pay.<ref name=":1" /> The [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] devastated the county, just as it did the rest of the country.<ref name=":1" /> It brought a general decline in Mills County farming (and overall population) and effected further agricultural diversification, leading not only to an upswing in sheep, goat, and chicken production but also to developing additional sources such as pecans, fruit, and dairy.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":27" /> In 1925, J.L. Corts established the first [[dairy]] about three miles southwest Goldthwaite called the "Regular Dairy Farm".<ref name=":6" /> The first Mills County cheese factory opened in Goldthwaite in 1928.<ref name=":6" /> Also around this time, cold storage developed as both a stand-alone industry and also became a means to enhance other industries such as poultry.<ref name=":6" /> Turkey and egg production were once leading businesses in the county.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":1" /> Homer McCasland once had about 30,000 layers producing eggs that were distributed through a Dallas facility.<ref name=":31">{{Cite book |last=McCasland |first=DeWayne |title=They Must Have Been Nuts: the Innovators, Speculators, and Giant Personalities Who Created the Modern Pecan Industry |publisher=Real Western |year=2013 |isbn=9780984498154 |edition=1st |location=Waco, Texas |oclc=951272443}}</ref> Hogs were once raised county-wide for meat.<ref name=":9" />

Depression relief programs provided by the U.S. Government were headquartered in the courthouse with E.B. Gilliam as administrator, yet Mills County's needs were not as severe as other counties in Central Texas.<ref name=":6" /> One form of recovery that helped Mills County was the [[Agricultural Adjustment Act|Agriculture Adjustment Act]].<ref name=":1" /> 
[[File:Turkey pickers, Mills County Cold Storage.jpg|thumb|Turkey pickers, Mills County Cold Storage, date unknown]]
By 1940, productive cropland dropped from 89,343 acres reported in 1930 to 78,372 acres as more land was used for mohair goats and sheep.<ref name=":27" /> The total number of farms dropped nine percent to 1,364.<ref name=":27" />

The [[Soil Bank Program]] under the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s paid farmers to transform under-producing farmland to pastureland, and most of the land never returned to production.<ref name=":24" /> By 1959, cropland dropped to 32,000 acres, and the total number of farms dropped to 767, with a concomitant drop in population.<ref name=":27" />

Starting in the 1970s and early 1980s, the county gained a number of manufacturing companies.<ref name=":7" /> By 1982, there were eight manufacturers employing one-hundred people, which brought a slight population increase.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":27" />

Mills County is a leader in Texas [[pecan]] production.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TSHA {{!}} Pecan Industry |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/pecan-industry |access-date=2022-12-05 |website=www.tshaonline.org}}</ref> Pecans are credited as one of the most lucrative crops in the early days of Mills County, fetching about four cents per pound.<ref name=":6" /> In the early days, pecan crops were typically sold at markets in Houston.<ref name=":6" /> In 1905, one Mills County citizen reported earnings of $49.10 from a single tree.<ref name=":6" /> By 1929, pecan production had developed into a solid industry mostly in the southern part of the county, which became a recognized center for development of new varieties.<ref name=":6" /> 174,637 bushels of improved pecans were harvested in 1950, and in 1954 statistics reported 58,092 pecan trees and 385,792 pounds of pecans.<ref name=":6" /> Pecan harvesting as a business was accelerated by mechanization in the late 1950s, led by the invention of the pole or boom shaker by O.L. Sides and his sons, W.L. and C.N. Sides, under the auspices of their company, Metal Masters Machine, Inc.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":31" /> In 1958, the Sides brothers, working with Ted Burnham, developed the first drum pecan harvester, later known as the Lockwood Harvester, which used rubber picking fingers that were derived from a similar mechanism used to remove feathers from butchered poultry<ref name=":31" /> In 1965, the Sides contracted with Lockwood, a company that primarily worked with peanuts, to manufacture the machines.<ref name=":31" /> With over 800 acres of trees in the county, DeWayne McCasland has become a nationwide expert on pecans.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bomar |first=Gary |title=McCasland isn't nuts, he's just the tops in pecans |url=https://www.reporternews.com/story/money/industries/agriculture/2016/12/04/mccasland-isnt-nuts-hes-just-tops-pecans/94794690/ |access-date=2022-12-05 |website=Abilene Reporter-News |language=en-US}}</ref> McCasland helped organize the Texas Pecan Growers Association, a pecan marketing cooperative that originally served Texas and Oklahoma growers.<ref name=":31" />

[[Market garden|Truck farming]] also had its day in Mills County: one successful operation was Riverside Farm, owned by J.J. Cockrell near the Colorado River, which once had one hundred acres cultivated in a variety of fruits and a one-hundred tree pecan orchard.<ref name=":6" />

Before the [[COVID-19 pandemic|COVID pandemic]], land in the county was selling for around $2,000 an acre and since has increased to about double that value, or more.<ref name=":32" />

=== Renewable energy ===
There are currently four wind energy projects operating in Mills County that feature a total of 277 turbines and generate an estimated 846 MW of power.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Viewer {{!}} USWTDB |url=https://eerscmap.usgs.gov/uswtdb/viewer/#11.09/31.5041/-98.5171/-22.4 |access-date=2022-11-14 |website=eerscmap.usgs.gov}}</ref>

* Castle Gap Wind Power LLC [partially in Lampasas County]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Power Generator Report |url=https://www.puc.texas.gov/industry/electric/directories/pgc/report_pgc.aspx?ID=PGSQL01DB1246004500001 |access-date=2023-05-30 |website=www.puc.texas.gov}}</ref>
* Flat Top Wind I LLC<ref>{{Cite web |title=Power Generator Report |url=https://www.puc.texas.gov/industry/electric/directories/pgc/report_pgc.aspx?ID=PGSQL01DB1245791100003 |access-date=2022-11-14 |website=www.puc.texas.gov}}</ref>
* Goldthwaite Wind Energy LLC<ref>{{Cite web |title=Power Generator Report |url=https://www.puc.texas.gov/industry/electric/directories/pgc/report_pgc.aspx?ID=PGSQL01DB1245653100002 |access-date=2022-11-14 |website=www.puc.texas.gov}}</ref>
* Priddy Wind Project LLC<ref>{{Cite web |title=Power Generator Report |url=https://www.puc.texas.gov/industry/electric/directories/pgc/report_pgc.aspx?ID=PGSQL01DB1245929200001 |access-date=2022-11-14 |website=www.puc.texas.gov}}</ref>