Rising cotton futures top $2 mark

Last week, the cotton market reached a milestone when May 2011 cotton futures topped the $2-a-pound level.

This comes just a few months after cotton futures passed the dollar-a-pound mark, which had elicited a collective gasp of surprise and excitement across the Cotton Belt, according to Southeast Farm Press.

By the end of last week, cotton futures for May 2011 had opened at a high of about $2.08 per pound, according to the IntercontinentalExchange.

Market analyst O.A. Cleveland says the news behind the high prices is China’s insatiable appetite for cotton.

Remembering Comanche chief Quanah Parker

One hundred years ago today, Quanah Parker, touted by the US government as the principal chief of the Comanche nation, died in Cache, Okla., aged approximately 62.

Parker was a remarkable individual who led a remarkable life.

He was the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, a European American, who had been captured in 1836 at the age of nine and adopted into the tribe. When his father was killed and his mother captured by Texas Rangers in 1860, Quanah was just 12.

The Comanches were never a single unified tribe, but instead traveled in bands. With his father dead and mother gone, Quanah joined the Destanyuka band, where Chief Wild Horse took him under his wing. Though he grew to considerable standing as a warrior, Quanah never felt comfortable with the Destanyuka.

He left and formed the Quahadi band with warriors from another tribe. The Quahadi grew in number, becoming the largest of the Comanche bands, and also the most notorious.