King Benjamin Ivey, a Pioneer in the Farming World

摘要

Born in Travis County, Texas, in 1891, K.B. Ivey grew up on a small farm near Stephenville, the seventh of John William and Roxy Kay Ivey s fourteen children.In 1912, he traveled with two older brothers, Louis and Robert, to the El Paso Valley. His brother Louis wanted to buy cotton from Juarez, Mexico. It wasn't until they arrived in the dusty Border town that they met the seller:the infamous Pancho Villa, who confiscated cotton from Mexico to help fund his revolution. While they were in El Paso, they toured the valley and saw that the area had great farming potential. As an experiment, Louis Ivey, later known as "Mr. Cotton," planted 45 acres of cotton. Louis already had large plantings of cotton in California where he had started farming in 1907. They were impressed with the results in the El Paso Valleybut only decided to return in 1916 when the Elephant Butte irrigation project opened the area for much broader opportunities for successful farming. The "Ivey Brothers" were the chief influence in the success of long staple cotton production in West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California.