312 COTTON 



OUR FIRST COTTON MILL, 



In the year 1787, Mrs. Ramage, widow of a 

 South Carolina planter, realizing its greater econ- 

 omy and so anticipating its financial success, 

 erected a small cotton mill on James Island, near 

 Charleston. Small in size and operated by horse- 

 power, this was the first cotton factory erected on 

 American soil, although a little later in the same 

 year, another cotton factory, somewhat larger in 

 capacity, was started at Beverly, Massachusetts. 

 Then, years later, a second factory was built at 

 Statesburg. Georgia was the second State to be- 

 gin cotton manufacturing, but it was not until 1809 

 that a small factory was erected at Louisville, this 

 being also operated by horse-power. Two years 

 later a much larger factory was built in Wilkes 

 County, this one known as the "Bolton Factory." 

 This building "was 60 feet by 40 feet, two stories, 

 attic and basement, and was constructed of brown 

 sandstone." It was the first factory of any con- 

 sequence in Georgia. 



In North Carolina no factory was built until 1818 

 when one was erected in Edgecombe County, 

 which "began operating with 288 spindles, em- 

 ployed about 20 hands, and consumed 18,000 

 pounds of cotton, or according to the weights of 

 those days, about 64 bales." 



LITTLE INTEREST IN COTTON MANUFACTURING 



While a great many cotton factories sprang up in 

 the Southern States from 1800 to 1860, the South 

 as a whole, cannot be said to have given manufac- 

 turing very substantial encouragement. Rather it 

 was discouraged sometimes rather emphatically. 



