Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-04-23

we not rely on them to give their aid, yea,
to lead in the crowning work of making
North Carolina the pride of this CONT
nent. t ~
Through the courtesy of the owners, and
with a competent gnide, I was escorted
through the Rock Island Wooden Mills,
and saw everything "from turret to foun-
dation stone," and came away wondering
that so little..was known of it in our State.
The building is situated near the track OF
the North Carolina Railroad, four stories
high, and of extensive dimensions. There
is an air of strength. sol;dity and ability to
do good hard work about every part of it,
and there is hardly room for spectators to
pass about among the wheels aud bands,
and buZzing engines of every kind. In
fact think the convenience OF "loafers l"
has not been considered by the proprie-
tors The upper story contains the spin
ners, the next lower the carders, the sec
ond floor the looms, the ground floor the
dyeipg machinery and various Others for
| fulling, folding, cleaning, &c, and the en-
CINE is in an outer room, not part of the
main building, so that it might blow into
q thousand fragments without materially
affecting the building. But, in fact, there
| is no danger Of any such thing occurring,
as the boiler is So Harrison of the first
quality, which Can no better describe than
| by saying that it is composed of aquant1ty of
ten inch bomb shells, which boil each gal
Ion of water separately and feed the steam
directly to the engine without the aid of
steam drums, dome, Or any such thing.
The man who invented the spinning
machine began the work to aid his daugh-
ter "Jinnie," who had to spin for his
family ; hence when it was completed he
called it "Jinnie." which was corrupted to
"Jenny," which is corruption of
"Jennet The man who made the next
improvement, not knowing the derivation
Of the term, called his machine Jack, :"
and an additional improver called his i'm
provement "mule," SO that the spinning
mule " is the great machine of this day.
There is an immense room full of spinning
6" mules
The factory has eleven one hundred inch
Crompton looms, thirty two Jencks' six
treadle looms, and twenty-eight more are
putting up. Or, as wool machinery is
always rated by "sets, % they have six COM
plete sets Of wool machinery, and their
production is from one thousand to twelve
hundred yards Of cassimeres per day,
enough to make four hundred pair of
pantaloons or two hundred and fifty coats.
The goods are from all wool cassimeres,
with double and twisted all wool warps, fit
to adorn Broadway dandy, down to the
strong, heavy. durable jeans, SO much
liked by our own people, and SO cheap as
to be within the reach of the poorest.
Every yard is guaranteed by the proprie-
tors, and they are seeking to sell direct to
the merchants Of the South. They give
notice thai purchasers can return all goods
not coming up to their representation.
l have consumed my allotted space and
must close, though really unwilling to do
so. l could say hundred things more
about this factory alone. Let me conclude
by urging that this noble home enterprise
meet with the favor of our merchants, and
for the good of the State that they give
trial to these and to all of our home manu-
facturers before sending abroad.
Yours As ever,
In TRAEslT.