"This study concerns the examination of the historical importance and achievements of a small cotton mill located in the agrarian Texas community of Itasca, Texas. Newspaper clippings and numerous interviews with former mill employees and Itasca citizens supplied factual material pertaining to the Itasca mill; however, company records provided the basic research material for this paper... The company offices have since been destroyed, and most of the records are now in the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas...In the final chapter, the author concludes that this mill, like numerous other southern mills, fell under the influence of northern companies because of undercapitalization which severely limited available operating capital. Even though the mill eventually prospered, it never managed to free itself from the influence of northern commission companies. In the final analysis, the Itasca company proved to be different from other cotton duck mills in the South in its development of a line of unique decorative fabrics sold by mail as well as through thirteen company-owned stores."-- leaf 1.