through the scale house window

 

My grandfather W O, Fortenberry purchased the gin at New Deal (then known as Monroe) in 1929.  He sold the ginning business in 1952 to devote time to farming and oil interests.  The gin operated as New Deal Gin for many years then shut down and the place was vacant.  This year my nephew purchased a portion of the original gin land, including the scale house and gin building.  The scale house, which was also the office, still has the original walk-in vault and the Fairbanks-Morse scales.  The scales just need to be recertified to be used again.  The Fortenberry legacy lives on.

 

Fortenberry Farms

New Deal, Texas

the scale house

 

The metropolis of County Line lies at the intersection of FM 179 and 597, which is the dividing boundary between Lubbock and Hale counties.  In its heyday during the first half of the century, County Line had a school, 3 grocery stores, 2 blacksmith shops, a gin and a church   Today there's only a handful of residents, abandoned buildings, the First Baptist Church (which had 8 cars in the parking lot on Sunday) and the County Line Cemetery.  The Fairbanks-Morse weighing scale, although pocked with bullet holes, still occupies the scale house by the grain elevators.

 

County Line Co-op Gin Scale House

County Line, Texas

8.09.2012