128 
MANUFACTURE OF COTTON. 
made slow progress. In 1790 the first ArkwrigM ma- 
chinery was set in operation, and a new impulse was given 
to the manufacture of cotton. From 1800 to 1815 the 
number of bales consumed increased from 500 to 90,000. 
Up to the year 1813 cloth was woven by the hand loom, 
and at this date about 100,000 operatives were employed 
and $40,000,000 invested in the business. During this 
year Francis C. Lowell built a factory for about 1,700 
spindles, and furnished it with power looms for weaving. 
The first cotton mill in Lowell was erected in 1822. Tliirty 
years afterward twelve manufacturing companies were in 
operation there, whose mills, amounting to fifty-one in 
number, extended in a continuous line of about a mile. 
From that time to this mills have been on the increase in 
the New England States, and many have been erected like- 
wise in the South and West, giving employment to thou- 
sands of operatives, contributing largely to the wealth of 
the country, and sustaining commerce with foreign nations. 
SECTION n. 
COTTON MANUPAOTUEES IN THE UNITED STATES. 
The table on page 129 shows the amount and valuation 
of cotton manufactured in the United States, with tlie re- 
ported number of mills, looms, and spindles, the variety 
of manufactured articles and their valuation, for the year 
1857. Not one-third of the mills, however, are reported, 
as will appear from the next table : 
The table on page 130 shows the total number of cot- 
ton establishments, according to the census of 1850, the 
capital employed, the cotton used, the hands engaged, and 
* the value of the manufactured articles. 
