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There is very little evidence remaining that tells us how the Mill owners went about attracting workers from New England. However, in one of Hamilton Smiths' Scrapbooks is an article from the Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Journal, dating from 1850, inviting new workers to Indiana:
...to the farmer, mechanic, or manufacturer, who is sober, industrious and economical; who cannot where he is, make a provision for himself and family suitable to their condition; who is looking to California, or Cuba, or some other distant point for support or wealth or distinction; to all such I say - enquire a little about Cannelton before you ship to San Francisco or enlist with Gen. Lopez.
Broadsides (recruitment posters) distributed in the 1850s advertised high wages for family help. As was common to virtually all textile mills in the early and mid-nineteenth century, women were generally paid less than men. Women's and children's wages were also restricted since certain jobs in the mill were not open to them. While working in the spinning and weaving rooms, "Girls make from $4.50 to 4 Dollars per week on the average...Board is $1.50 per week...If the girls...understand weaving on power looms they can make $3.00 besides their board. " Other advertisements posted locally were printed in German presumably to attract members of this dominant ethnic group in southern Indiana. In
1850, two hundred and fifty workers, the majority of them young
girls, arrived from New England by boat at Cannelton. According
to the local newspaper, the Cannelton Economist, "It
was dark and raining at the time, and of course remarkably muddy..."
To make matters worse, the boarding and rental houses had not yet
been completed so it was difficult to find accommodations for the
new arrivals.
In terms of the population of Cannelton as a whole, the majority - 58.1 % - were born in Indiana. Among the workers at the mill, however, more than 58% of the workforce was recruited from another state. Germans were unquestionably the dominant foreign-born group, with numerous Irish and English immigrant workers also hired. And despite the original intentions of the proprietors, less than half the work force was from New England - quite different from the ideal envisioned by the mill's founder, Hamilton Smith. The cotton mill did not transform Canneleton into a premier manufacturing city; investors were never attracted in sufficient numbers and textile manufacturing became more profitable elsewhere in the country. The mill was sold in 1946 and the company dissolved a few years later. Cannelton remains a small town with limited industry and the mill building now stands empty. What is significant in terms of immigration history: the stream of workers to Cannelton, Indiana was part of a larger westward migration of the population in general, seeking land, jobs and economic stability in the mid nineteenth century. For more information about the Indiana Cotton Mills, consult the Indiana Historical Society Manuscripts and Archives Department Records, Collection M0156.
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