After the raw cotton is cleaned, it passes through a carding machine which gathers the fibres into ropes one inch in diameter. These ropes are drawn, twisted and transformed into yarn, then rolled onto spools. This is what the spinning frames are doing in this photograph. After several other processing stages, the yarn is ready to be woven. In this photograph taken in 1928, the machines are run by electricity. Those in the Valleyfield mill in 1908 were still powered by belts suspended from the ceiling.
