In November of 1897, “the most terrible boiler explosion that ever took place in this section occurred at Morgan Mill.” The cotton gin exploded, killing three people. Stephenville Empire

1890: The cotton critic, Edward Everett Davis, recalled: “My father brought me to Texas . . . We settled on the open frontier [just west of Erath County] where the population was sparse and conditions primitive. Our pioneer neighbors were honorable, fearless, and physically fit. But when the pasture lands gave way to the plow, and cotton moved in, the whole order changed . . . Legions of sorry humans followed in its wake. Bankers were constrained to lend with greater care, and credit merchants had to charge to a cash basis.” Edward Everett Davis, The White Scourge, San Antonio: Naylor, 1940.