(erielack) Silk Mills and Coal

["Richard Recordon" <recordor_@_comcast.net>]

Frank Adams wrote:

"Never the less, I am surprised at how many of these "silk" industries, yes served by the railroads, existed along side the coal mines, collieries, and lumber mills."

The answer is pretty simple. Large coal and iron towns had a large surplus of under-employed women in the wives and daughters of the male workers' families. They also had good rail service for the delivery of "silk trains" from the West Coast ports.

These elements combined; cheap labor, ready energy source, good transportation, to make it very economical to site silk and other textile mill operations in close proximity to towns like Scranton.

Rusty Recordon

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