Durham's fading tobacco heritage

(Herald Sun) ... “The loose-leaf auction came into wide use for flue-cured tobaccos after the Civil War, favored because it was a more convenient and competitive system for buyers and sellers,” de Miranda wrote in her Register nomination.
The system replaced a much less efficient method of selling tobacco in large hogsheads that was cumbersome and served neither selling farmers nor buying manufacturers well.
Writer and Durham historian Jim Wise described the first auction day in Durham, in 1871, in his 2002 book, “Durham: A Bull City Story:” Continued

Photo: Unloading tobacco from trailer into baskets according to the grade, the night before auction sale, in warehouse. Durham, North Carolina. Nov. 1939.. Wolcott, Marion Post -- Photographer. November 1939 (FSA/NYPL).