Mrs. Cartwright and I had a lovely little adventure today in the form of a museum tour in Salem, OR. We had originally set out to have our riding lesson, but unfortunately our instructor had to reschedule us for tomorrow. So, we decided we would have a fun day and go somewhere our husbands would not normally wish to go. We decided to check out the Mission Mill Museum in Salem. What a wonderful treat it was! There are five acres and a number of buildings, including some pioneer houses that were moved to the site after the museum was established. Here are a few pictures and if you want to learn more, visit their website, Mission Mill Museum.
The Mill Creek with the mill in the background.
The missionary house. It was built in 1840 and housed missionaries and their families until the late 1840’s.
One of the one room apartments in the missionary house. This particular room was the home of a husband and wife and their four children. Three of whom were conceived and born here.
Here you can see the original construction of the walls. They were eventually covered with plaster in the 1850’s.
The part of the mill where the fabric processing begins. It all starts with washing, cleaning, and drying the raw wool.
The carding machine with bags of cleaned wool.
A salesmen’s carding machine. This is basically a small version of the large machines for demonstration purposes.
The spooling machine. The tour reminded me so much of North and South, the Gaskell novel and BBC series.
This part amazed me! This is the warp loom. Each thread had to be counted and threaded into the metal rings based on the pattern for the fabric. They usually made 3 warp patterns per day on one machine. Pretty amazing!
The weaving loom. This is where the weft is woven between the warp and fabric is made. There would have ben up to 10 of these machines in the factory. They are extremely loud and would have been managed, two at a time, by one person.
The finishing floor.
Those wheels on the ceiling would have been run by a massive crank that was powered by the mill creek. This gave power to the machines as well as the lights. It also meant that the machines could not automatically be stopped. If an emergency occurred, the belt from the wheel was removed and they had to wait for the machine to come to a stop. This could be quite dangerous if someone was caught in the machinery without immediate stopping capabilities. However, our guide told us there were only 2 fatalities and 3 injuries in the records of the mill.
And, of course, one of my favorite prints in the exhibit and the only 18th century piece they had.
Well, dear friends, hopefully I will have a horsey related post for you tomorrow. Figures crossed!
Love,
Lauren
Posts
7 Witty Sentiments:
That looked very interesting, and fun. My thoughts went to North and South too (these horrid mills and the conditions of those working there, are one reason I hardly ever portray a person of wealth).
Oh how interesting! I must get down there sometime, old factories and mills, despite their dark past, seem so fascinating and beautiful to me. This makes me want to watch North and South again, oh that tragically beautiful cotton floating through the air. Those scenes always have me hypnotized :)
xoxo
Solanah
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
@ Solanah: Yes, you must visit it. It was truly a wonderful tour!
Great photos of the mill! I think I attended a wedding there long ago, but the museum was closed.
Oh my goodness! That looks like such an awesome place! How have I never been there? I really need to check that out next time I am in town.
That looks like a neat place. I like the green lawn at the missionary house at this time of year!
Post a Comment