The Lowell Textile MillsThe Lowell Textile Mills represented a new transition in American history that explored working and labor conditions in America's new industrial factories. To describe the Lowell Textile factories, one must go back to study, discover, and gain knowledge about the industrial work and factory systems of industrial America. These mass production factories seemed quite promising in their early days, but after years of operation, they showed multiple problems and setbacks for those involved. The Lowell Mills were located in Lowell, Massachusetts and specialized in manufacturing cotton fabrics. The strong currents of the surrounding rivers powered the mill's machinery. Most often, a factory was the largest employer in a community and factory owners often had other business investments in the neighborhood, such as general stores, real estate, and residential properties (Inventing America, p 391). Finding workers for Lowell was not a big task. a problem. Workers were attracted by the great cultural opportunities available in Lowell. “Besides the obvious appeal of a workplace, people viewed factories as a grand social experiment, with moral gymnasiums where employees would not only earn a wage but also experience moral and spiritual growth” (Inventing America, p.394). Lowell factories tried to base their manufacturing differently from Europe. Workers in the manufacturing towns of Europe were notoriously unintelligent and unmoral (Lucy Larcom: Among Lowell Mills Girls). Lowell wanted to give workers the opportunity to form great friendships and enjoy a fulfilling church life. Factories filled with girls from small towns who had good country morals and stayed away from unpleasant urban conditions. These workers were given the name factory girls. By 1836, Lowell had twenty factories with 6,000 workers: 85 percent of Lowell's workforce consisted of single women between the ages of fifteen and twenty-nine (Inventing America, p. 394). In the early years, when profits were high, working conditions seemed promising to factory girls during their brief experiences of opening factory work. The jobs required few skills because the machines were mostly autonomous. It looked very pleasant at first, the rooms were so light, spacious and clean, the girls so pretty and well dressed, and the machines so brightly polished or beautifully painted (Harriet Farley, Letters from Susan, Letter Second).