Connecticut Water Trails Association
|
|
|
|
|---|
|
Connecticut Water Trails Association |
|
Connecticut Water Trails Program History Of Connecticut's Water Trails History of Mills In Connecticut
About Cotton Mills
In the early industrial period, one of the first products to be manufactured in New England on a large scale with water power was cotton cloth. Many New England towns grew into prosperous cities thanks to their rivers and their cotton mills. Hayward's Gazetteer documented many towns in which the production cotton cloth was an especially prominent business in the 1830's.
Water Power (1770-1800)
The early mills were narrow and low in height,
of light construction, powered by water wheels and containing small
machines. Interior lighting was by daylight, and ceiling height was only
6–8 ft. and 9 feet wide.
Spinning was done with a spinning mule, which
was not restricted by patent, so many engineers experimented with
improvements which they then tested in their own establishments. These men
became the successful mill owners.
The earliest cotton mills were driven by water, so needed to be situated on fast flowing streams. The labor force, in the main had carding, spinning and weaving skills acquired by working with wool. The earliest mills were adjacent to streams flowing off the open west facing moors where the rainfall was the highest. As capacity grew, navigable waterways were needed to bring in the raw materials and take away the finished yarn or cloth. Rivers were canalized and a network of canals was dug to penetrate further into the hills to service the mills.
From about 1820, the stationary steam engine became the normal form of power for a cotton mill, water was still needed to produce the steam and to condense it, to maintain the humidity, for many of the finishing processes and for firefighting. The water was extracted from rivers and canals, then later mills requiring ever more water, built and maintained their own reservoirs. Mills were built away from the hills, and clustered around watercourses, developing into mill towns. Mills were also used for wet finishing processes such as bleaching, dyeing and printing- these were very water intensive.
Following the American Civil War mills grew larger.
However, New England mills found it increasingly difficult to compete,
when they started to build mills in the southern states, where cheap labor
and plentiful water power made operations profitable. Cotton could be
processed into fabric where it grew, saving transportation costs. Cotton
Mills in New England went into gradual decline until finally bankrupted
during the Great Depression.
Cotton Mills In Connecticut:
East Haddam
Plainfield
Putnam
Sterling
Vernon
Voluntown
Westport
Willimantic
Windham
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
