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"Before You Ship to San Francisco": the Cannelton Mill in Perry County In addition to farmland and work on the canals and mines, one of the major attractions bringing new settlers to Indiana were the textile mills. By 1860, there were 79 woolen mills in Indiana, employing more than 530 workers; there were however only two cotton mills employing nearly 400 workers. The largest of these was the Indiana Cotton Mills, originally called the Cannelton Cotton Mill, founded in Perry County on the lower Ohio River in 1848. Background History: Development of Mills in the United States The early mills used what was called a "putting out system" in which the mill did carding and spinning, but hand weavers were paid to weave the fabric and then return it to the mill for finishing. In the 1830s, improved machinery allowed mills to do the entire process in-house, greatly reducing the cost of cotton cloth. In 1841, power looms that could manage wool were developed and affordable woolens appeared in local stores. Continued advances in textile machinery and the spread of railroads soon made inexpensive factory-produced fabrics available everywhere. By 1870, there were more than 2,400 woolen mills, and hundreds of cotton mills all over the United States. The mills completely changed how people dressed and the way they decorated their homes. By the 1830s, clothing became far more affordable for the growing "middle class" throughout the midwest. Curtains and other decorative textiles increasingly appeared in homes in Indiana and the western states. By the middle of the century, families no longer had to spend time spinning and weaving. The factories provided a wide variety of textile products to everyone, everywhere. They were also an important source of new jobs. People moved from farms and small towns to larger towns and cities to work in factories and the many support businesses that grew up around them. The success of the textile industry fostered many other factory systems. Craftsmen and artisans of all types were replaced as stores and mail-order catalogs marketed inexpensive manufactured goods to an ever-growing population.
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