S/R TITUS SALT. 



147 



August 1S30. Titus Salt was in his twenty-seventh year, 

 and the bride was but eighteen. 



The practical and energetic mind of Titus Salt was not 

 slow to profit from any new idea which would contribute 

 to his success in business. He was the first to establish 

 the fact that Donskoi wool, or wool from the banks of 

 the river Don in Russia, could be used in the worsted as 

 well as in woollen manufacture. He invested in this 

 Russian wool, but could find no purchasers for it in its 

 raw state. Accordingly, he took a mill, and fitting it up 

 with suitable machinery, began to spin the Donskoi wool 

 into yarn, and weave it into fabric. This experiment was 

 entirely successful, and his business was now vastly increased. 

 The like utilization of the wool called alpaca, and its service 

 in the worsted trade, laid the basis of his fame and fortune. 

 Being in Liverpool in the year 1836, the wool of the 

 alpaca then first came under his notice. Passing through 

 one of the dock warehouses, he saw a pile of dirty-looking 

 bales of alpaca ; the rents in the different bales disclosed 

 their contents. Having examined a handful 01 the wool 

 from one of the bales, he left the warehouse. Returning 

 at a later time, he took away a small quantity ot the 

 material and brought it to Bradford. He had the alpaca wool 

 scoured and combed, a process which he accomplished with 

 his own hands, when he examined its fibre and measured 

 its length. In this fibre he detected a thread which might 

 be usefully utilized in the light fancy fabrics for which 

 Bradford was noted. He mentioned the matter to his 

 friend John Hammond. 'John, I have been to Liverpool 

 and seen some alpaca wool; I think it might be brought 

 into use.' But neither John Hammond nor his father 



