Textile Tradition in the Mohawk Valley

Textile Tradition in the Mohawk Valley

By Jeanne Gostling

   The Mohawk Valley’s textile mills used nature’s abundance to create products.  That earned cities like Cohoes the name “Spindle City,” Amsterdam  “Rug City,” and Utica was crowned  “The Knit Goods Capital of the World.”

   Shear, pick, scour, dry, card, dye, dry again, rove, oil, spin, and you’ve got yourself some wool yarn, suitable for weaving.

   Harvest, gin, open, blend, clean, card, comb, form a sliver, card again, draw, rove, spin, ply and twist, gas and singe, mercerize, dye and coat – now you’ve got some cotton thread and bolts of fabric.

   Before the age of synthetic polymers, people could only choose between plants and animals as sources for clothing. Both require a degree of processing. The simpler the intended new use, such as a blanket or loin cloth, the less complicated the processing. The pelt of an animal, for instance, could be processed and used as fur, after it was cleaned, stretched and dried. The only source of power to make this conversion was human hands wielding handmade tools. 

   The types of clothing and items we needed grew more complex over time. We found ourselves engaged in activities that require gloved hands, coveralls, and garments fashioned specifically for warmth or safety. Social norms infiltrated our decision making on how we covered our bodies and an accumulation of wealth, like a house, meant we could adorn it with luxuries including rugs and curtains. Not surprisingly, as demand widened, increased production followed. 

   The Mohawk Valley heard the demand and answered the call. All early mills needed a supply of water to cascade over massive waterwheels and create rotational energy to power the machines that made the products.  Luckily, early power sources in our region were plentiful - Mohawk River, Cohoes Falls, Chuctanunda Creek, Little Falls, and the West Canada Creek. 

   In Cohoes, mills harnessed waterpower from the falls to run the looms at Egberts & Bailey and Harmony Mills. These mills churned out stockings, undergarments and cotton fabric, employing between 3,000 and 5,000 workers at their peak. Harmony Mills was credited with being the largest cotton producing textile mill in the country by the late 1800’s.

   The mills on the Chuctanunda Creek through Amsterdam, were busy utilizing a 300-foot drop in  elevation and the resulting force of water to power their machinery. By 1844, Sanford & Son’s Carpet was supplying wool carpets to our region, a reach that would become nationwide later in the 19th century. Mohawk Carpets would go into production in 1878. Eventually, wool underwear producers, Yund, Kennedy & Yund, and Chalmers, would join the ranks of a dozen textile mills in 20th century Amsterdam. These later mills weren’t restricted to creek power and used coal fired boilers to produce power from steam instead.

   More success in the textile industry was shaping up further west in Little Falls. Factories like Anchor Mills and The Little Falls Felt Shoe Company harnessed the falls to produce goods from both cotton and wool.  Little Falls is credited with producing the blue wool cloth most Union uniforms were cut from during the Civil War. In Utica, expansive mills with names like Utica Steam Woolen Mill and the massive Mohawk Valley Cotton Mill cranked out knit-wear and employed thousands.

   In the 21st century the din of the clattering looms has been silenced. Only scant physical remnants of our industrial textile history remain in the Mohawk  Valley today. The abandoned buildings with faded signage, pieces of power infrastructure like water wheels, mill ponds, and mill races are quiet reminders of our economic transition after independence from Great Britain, and the resulting influence of two industrial revolutions that followed. They speak too of the economic shift for the means of production heading south to the sunbelt, mid-20th century.

   If you listen carefully though, the shuttles are gliding again. Needles are clicking. Sewing machines are whirring. Slowly, growing out of the vestiges of our storied industrial past, is the resurgence of the Mohawk Valleys' textile tradition. The signs are subtle. They can be seen in the understated skill sets from colonial times now being actively practiced by local guilds and farms. Men, women and children are raising sheep for wool, exhibiting their animals at the summer fairs, selling or processing their own fleece – creating handmade textiles for sale and display. The active homespun enthusiast can avail themselves of domestic raw materials that once left our land to be processed in Europe. Cotton would need to be purchased outside the northeast, very  possible, yet flax for linen grows especially well in our region. In fact, Northeastern flax rivals the plants once grown for fine linen in Europe.

   Today, amateur and professional spinners, weavers and seamstresses are often sought after by historical reenactors who want period correct fabrics and authentic garment creation. People who practice homespun frequently make themselves available for demonstrations at historic sites and special events, inspiring a new generation to work with plant and animal fibers. Consumers’ concern over how products are sourced has boosted interest in homemade and homegrown. Finally, investment in time away from the digital world, working with your hands, and slowing the pace of life is a benefit that transcends any finished product.

     Let’s keep these traditions going and keep the homespun community growing.