Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-11-03

L
construction Of . new cotton mill BIZ The
Lockwood Company has given an imretu. to
business OF all kinds, and the effect of the
Doom is seen in the activity of the town.
ana In the schemes afloat for the further
utilization of the water power and the er.c-
.''h u another cotton mill at some future
day.
The New MILL.
Operations were begun on the site of the
new cotton mill in March, and the work ha,
oeen vigorously prosecuted since. The walls
and roof of the factory are completed. and
the building can be closed up as soon as the
weather renders it necessary. 1t is expected
that the entire mill will be ready for ma.
chinery and shafting about the middle Of
January. The cards will be put in before
this. The apparatus tor steam heating is
now being put in by Providence concern.
The combined length of the different
factory buildings is 499 feet. The
picker is 63xl25 feet, and four stories in
height; the main mill is 3l6xlOO. and five
stories in height; the wheel house is to be
lOlx97 feet. and four stories. An annex is
being added to the picker, 33x63 feet, and
two stories in height. When finished the
mill will contain 81 900 spindles, and will
give employment to some 600 operatives.
The old mill runs SO, 900 spindles, and en-
ploys about 375 men, women, and children.
The two mills are to be connected next sea-
son by building l60x72 feet, which is to be
used for cloth hall and weave room. The
products Of these factories will be sheetings.
and the firm of Deering, Milliken & Co.,
New York City, stand ready to take all they
can manufacture The goods made at
Waterville have an enviable reputation,
in that place is largely due to the shrewd
management and executive ability of S. /.
Abbott, Esq, the agent of the corporation.
The new mill is a model factory, and was
built after designs made by A. d. Lockwood
of Providence, r. I. It is said to be one of
the most substantial buildings ever erected
in New England The wood work is mainly
of Southern pine; there is double set of
beams. The factory has mullioned Windows;
greater strength to the walls can thus be Sc
cured than is possible when the windows are
single The mill has Is feet stories Cap
tain A. ii. Kelsey of Boston, a veteran civil
engineer and mill builder, has had entire
charge of the building operations; and when
he pronounces the work finished, the mill can
successfully defy for years the assaults Of
time, and the jar of machinery will have no
effect upon its massive walls.
EFFECT UPoN BUSINESS.
OF course the construction of the new mill
has stimulated business of all kinds in Water
vile, and both skilled and unskilled labor
has been at = premium. There have been
fewer houses built than was anticipated in the
spring. Perhaps % or 80 dwellings have been
erected. Charles N. Darrell has put up
fine brick block on Main street, three stories
in height, which is occupied as a dry goods
built a three-story wooden block on the same
street. The under part of the Williams House
is now being torn out, and is to be made into
three spscious stores with iron fronts and
plate glass windows. This will greatly en-
nance the beauty of the street. 1t is proba-
Bile that large number of tenement houses
will be put up in Waterville next year, As
homes for the operatives in the factories.
CorroN MILL FEVER.
Although there is apparently no immediate
prospect of another cotton mill being erected.
vet it is reported that the Lockwood Company
have the plans all completed for a mill Of
$4,000 spindles, and that il the present era
of prosperity continues such a factory is
contingency of the next three years. Water
Vile is full of capitalists who are ready to
take stock in the proposed enterprise linen
like r. B. Dunn, Franklin Smith, Nathaniel
Meader, the Plaisted family, f. +. Webb,
r. Foster, and many others. When the pro-
posed mill is built it will be put up on the
Winslow side of the river, below the Ticonic
bridge, and nearly opposite the present
factories. Here is a magnificent site for
cotton mill. A solid foundation can be Sc
cured at small expense on the slaty rock
bv the river; and short canal will conduct
the water from the dam to the spot. The
Maine Central track is not Ave hundred feet
from this location, and the Winslow brick
wards are close at hand. Such happy
combination of circumstances can be seldom
found The present dam furnishes water
power enough to run this additional
factory all the year round. The construction
Of such mill will involve the question OF
annexing the northwest corner Of Winslow
THE strip between the Sebasticook and Ken
nebec rivers) to Waterville. This would
Mace the cotton mills in one town, and would
he decidedly advantageous to Waterville On
the other hand. the portion Of Winsiow not
included in this charmed territory would We
hemently oppose such ACKNOWLEDGMENT 1t
wouli leave the town impoverished, with
MANY expensive roads to keep in repair. Inc
rro;ect would lead to one of the bitterest
family ouarrels that could be imagined, but
in time the separation will be inevitably con-
summated.
MoRE WATER Power.
rlwood Company also control the