The Place Was
Then Called Lowell, After One Of The Partners In That Company.
It must be understood that water-power alone is used for preparing
the cotton and working the spindles and
Looms of the cotton mills.
Steam is applied in the two establishments in which the cottons are
printed, for the purposes of printing, but I think nowhere else.
When the mills are at full work, about two and a half million yards
of cotton goods are made every week, and nearly a million pounds of
cotton are consumed per week, (i e. 842,000 lbs.,) but the
consumption of coal is only 30,000 tons in the year. This will
give some idea of the value of the water-power. The Pawtucket
Canal was, as I say, bought, and Lowell was commenced. The town
was incorporated in 1826, and the railway between it and Boston was
opened in 1835, under the superintendence of Mr. Jackson, the
gentleman by whom the purchase of the canal had in the first
instance been made. Lowell now contains about 40,000 inhabitants.
The following extract is taken from the hand-book to Lowell: "Mr.
F. C. Lowell had, in his travels abroad, observed the effect of
large manufacturing establishments on the character of the people,
and in the establishment at Waltham the founders looked for a
remedy for these defects. They thought that education and good
morals would even enhance the profit, and that they could compete
with Great Britain by introducing a more cultivated class of
operatives.
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