The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1910-04-22

of Its amazing growth and the
romance with which 1t is colored gain
IN interest and conciseness when mar
rated, as it may be. in the record of
one firm. which had its beginnings in
the spare corner Of a quarryman's
shed over a century and a quarter ago
and today can claim to be the largest
manufacturer of long cloths and cali
Goes in the world.
In the early days of the cotton in
dustry, almost every Lancashire cot
tage was a factory. The head of the
family purchased raw cotton, his wife
and daughters carded and spun it into
yarn and he himself and son wove it
into calico for sale to a merchant.
Even the inventions of the flying
shuttle by John Kay. Of the spinning
jenny by James Hargreaves, of the
spinning water frame by Richard Ark
wright and later Of the spinning mule
by Crompton scarcely affected this do
nestle manufacture Of cotton. Thus.
though John Horrocks, one of the Is
children of a small quarry wner at
Edgeworth. near Bolton, was his ia
hers assistant in hewing and polish
ing millstones for grinding corn, he
set up a spinning frame in a corner
Of the stone mason's shed and devoted
his spare time to spinning cotton.
His yarn was of such high quality that
he secured a ready sale for it, and,
buying more spinning frames. he set
his numerous sisters to the same
work. Then came the time when, in
selling his yarn to a weaver, SO vio-
lent a quarrel arose over it's price
that Horrocks determined to start the
weaving as we'll as the spinning of
cotton.
In January, 1891, John Horrocks,
then only 20 years old. established
himself as a cotton manufacturer in
Preston. He bought and carded the
cotton himself: it was spun for him
by employees in their own homes and
he similarly gave out this yarn to
be woven into calicoes and long cloths.
Within IL months he built premises
which still stand as part of the now
immense factories of Horrockses,
Crewdson & Co. In less than ten
years John Horrocks had extended his
business to seven mills. Only 10
years elapsed between the time when
he laid down the stone mason's ham
mer and his death, at the age of SO,
Nj. P. for Preston and leaving a for
tune of G15O,OOO.
1t Is such a career as that which
invests the early development of the
cotton trade with the atmosphere of
romance. But so we'll and truly had
John Horrocks laid the foundation
stones and built up the business that
it's subsequent history has been n
of steadily increasing expansion. BY ,
absorption and amalgamation it is to-
day the firm Of Horrockses. Crewdson
E. Co., Ltd. Of which Sir Frank Hol.
Inns Is chairman, with mills in Pres
ton and Bolton and warehouses In
Manchester and London. The extent
of h business may be gathered from
the fact that 5000 work people are
engaged in its mills. that it's looms ex-
coed 5000 and it's spindles number
nearly a quarter of a million. The
weekly output averages 20. 900 pieces
Of cotton fabrics in almost infinite va
and makes. Chief among these
are long cloths and calicoes which
made the name of Horrockses.
& Co. familiar the world
the sheetings. flannelettes, fine
cambrics and fancy cotton fabrics. AL
for the holidays, the annual
output of the firm is 1,45O,O 900 pieces
and as each averages 40 yards IN
length the annual production amounts
to over 10000 miles. The mills at
Preston cover more than 60 acres and
one weaving shed alone contains 1000
In striking contrast with the roar Of
actual manufacture is the stiffness of
the firms great warehouse in Man.
where the bales of fabric are
from the mills, examined.
packed and dispatched to all
parts Of the world. It is interesting
10 note here the firms ad~aptability to