From Pain To Gain

The only monument in the world built in the shape of a bug to honor a bug is located in Fort Rucker, Alabama. In 1915 the Mexican boll weevil invaded Southeast Alabama an destroyed sixty percent of the cotton crop. In desperation, the farmers turned to planting peanuts. By 1917 the peanut industry had become so profitable that the county harvested more peanuts than any other county in the nation. In gratitude the people of the town erected a statue and inscribed these words,"In profound appreciation of the boll weevil, and what it has done as the herald of prosperity." The instrument of their suffering had become the means of their blessing.