Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-03-16
OUR Cotton FACTORY
NsarIy Ready 10 BsaIn Work,
An RntsEpriss Worth Locking q,
and Talking About.

-
The Pioneer Cotton Mills are nearly
completed and ready for business. Il
is expected that 5000 cotton spindles
will be in full operation by the end
of the present month.
The event promises to be an impor-
tant one in. the manufacturing history
of this city. A number Of operatives
have been engaged to come here from
Atlanta ard Augusta, Ga, Lowell,
Mass, Providence, Rhode Island, and
Wesson, Miss. It is, however, the
intention Of the mill owners to employ
home labor as literally as possible.
The larger number will therefore be
drawn from the resident population.
The skilled laborers are to teach the
novices, and those familiar with the
business sayit does not take long for a
person of ordinary intelligence to learn
how to handle the spindles, thread,
shuttles and other sppurtenances.
The owners of the Pioneer Mills,
looking to the interest of those
who are to labor at their
mills have erected FIVE handsome one
story cottages, double tenements each,
and four rooms on a side, including a
parlor, bed room, dining hall and
kitchen, with large yards and neces-
sary out of door arrangements. These
comfortable structures will quarter
ten separate families, and supply eat
ing and lodging room for perhaps
forty or fifty persons. Other cottages
of q like character are TO be built
when needed, though liberal accom-
modations will doubtless be found in
the vicinity Of the mills for the en-
ployes necessary for early operations.
The Pioneer mills occupy Al acres
of ground, as level as a floor, on the
high bluff overlooking the Mississippi
river just beyond the extreme south
ern limits of the city. The site is one
of the most picturesque to be seen in
the South. The plateau upon which
the mills are built is full sixty feet
above even the present high water
level. In the distance is to be seen
Presidents Island, the largest Of all
the islands Of the Mississippi river
from the gulf to its source. The
great stream winds tortuously around
the beautiful island, dotted over
as it is with cotton ieldsand plantation
cabins, while stately forest trees fringe
the opposite shores Of the mammoth
inland sea, Immediately around the
mill site, pleasant and comfortable
looking cottages, embowered amid
handsome shrubbery and we'll titled
gardens, are n%umerously scattered,
while in the foreground, looking west
ward and near TO the shores Of the
river, is the old Fort Pickering land.
ing-place, where a boat builders yard
was situated in the years gone by, and
whore are now a set Of gas works, a
powder magazine saw mill and
other evidences of thrift and industry.
A more attractive spot, nor indeed q
prettier landscape view, is not to be
found anywhere between the Ohio
valley and the shores Of the Gulf.
Within q stones throw Of where the
Pioneer Mills stand the great river
iron clad ram Arkansas was built just
twenty years ago. AT the same place
the Altoona, a steamer Of wonderful
swiftness, which many river men claim
was the fastest steamer aver
on the Mississippi, was built
some thirty years ago, both
planned aud supervised by a noted
constructor named Prince Emerson,
now several years dead. Other vessels
we're also turned out from the same
yard at various times, and it may be
that at no distant day the work Of
boat building will be resumed here.
This, however, has nothing to do with
the subject under consideration.
The main building of the Pioneer
Cotton Mills is a two story brick, go
feet long, 70 feet wide and about 80
feet in height. The engine house
forms an l. to the main structure, aud
the whole, with two out houses, one
for an Office and the other for a cotton
room, required 1,4O0,0 600 brick. This
work was substantially done by Mr,
Piper, Of this city. The Office occu-
pies one corner of the enclosure near
the main building, is a neat and con-
Venient affair, with a bay window
overlooking the entire front of the
premises, and arranged with a view
Of being both useful and ornamental.
The storehouse, also Of brick, stands
we'll off from the main structure, and
$50 bales of cotton can be stored
within it. The mills have on hand a
supply Of cotton purchased last fall
at about two cents per pound cheaper
than present prices, and enough to last
them six months steady running, and
it is all paid for,
In addition a supply Of 10000 bar
rels of coal has been purchased recent
lily at very reasonable figures.
This is now in course
Of being unloaded from a
barge at the landing near
the mills, and carts are busy
hauling and piling it in the center Of
INC nPaSiVuo jars HSoA Wv HVAiSA
room.
A large artificial pond near by holds
a thirty day supply Of water. 1t il
connected with the main building by
large pipes. Water tanks and auto
matte sprinklers are on the main
roof and in various parts Of the struc.
tura Lightning rods, to the extent Of
over 1900 feet, are fixed over
the buildings. Fire escapes lead
from the roof to the ground in half a
dozen places, and every possible pre-
caution has been made TO protect the
propertyfrom theldeStructive elements
A good fence surrounds the whole and
shade trees have been planted about
the entire enclosure.