I found this...
"The federal census of manufacturing captured the shift from water to steam power that began in the 1840s and continued through the 1850s. Counting only the firms that made $500 profit annually, the census of 1850 found that steam engines powered four percent of all businesses; the census of 1860 found that they powered 14 percent. Most engines were installed in saw and grist mills. In 1860, 80 percent of Baldwin County's 34 sawmills were steam powered. The majority of Pike County's 15 businesses, including a tannery and a carriage factory, also used steam engines. In Mobile, a 200-horse-power engine powered Garland Goode's Dog River textile factory. There is insufficient evidence to determine the source of the engines. Manufacturers brought them from northern or southern factories until the 1850s, when firms such as James Young's Eufaula Iron Works, Pierce Campbell's foundry and machine shop in Selma, and Mobile's Skates and Company began making steam engines locally."
also this...
"By the end of the year 1850, Dog River Factory was in complete operation. The factory manufactured Osnaburg, sheeting, and yarns, which it marketed in Mobile. The owners ususally hired female white labor to run the spindles, although in 1850, most employees were men. Located in one of the few areas in Alabama which received a significant foreign immigration, Dog River Factory was able to find numerous skilled weavers, dressers, spinners, and carders. The 1850 census reveals that with but two exceptions skilled positions at Dog River Factory also drew upon the local unskilled labor pool of Irish immigrants and the few poor whites settled around Mobile to run the factory machinery. The local supply of unskilled labor, however, did not satisfy the mill's needs. In 1851 the company imported forty trained spinners and weavers from France to upgrade the factory efficiency, but this practice proved very expensive....By 1860 [now owned by Mr. Garland Goode] the company reported 5040 spindles, 171 looms, and a 500 horse power steam engine acquired from a local works...the looms were capable of producing 8000 yards of cloth per day. The forty-acre mill compound was "one of the most healthful locations about Mobile," and the factory had "an abundant supply of good water..a sufficient number of cottages and houses for the accomodation of operatives...60 male and 90 female white employees... and 21 Negro slaves" {not popular with the anti-slave mechanic class in Mobile--- followers of the ideas of Robert Tharin }
Sometime during the war the factory suffered a fire and "a hoard of parts was salvaged from the remains of the Dog River factory...for $41,000 Garland Goode, its agent, sold the Confederate government a boiler, two engines, a saw-mill, and assorted tools, 'all situated in an exposed position and liable to be taken by the enemy'." Goode Voucher October 15, 1863. Confederate Industry by H.S. Wilson.
------------------------
I see that collectors are claiming the "Dog River" swords were made by I.D. Spear's Foundary, however, I found this....
"Shortly after the building of the Gaines and Morgan the ram Tennessee, which was partially constructed at Selma, was floated to Mobile to have her armament placed on her. She was landed at the foot of Theater Street, to be in close proximity to the foundry of I. D. Spear & Co. This firm was also the owner of the Selma Iron Works. Between the foundries of Spear & Co. and Park & Lyons {the company that built the Hunley} this ship was completed and made ready for sea."
If I.D. Spear & Co. were located near Theater Street, why would their swords called "Dog River Swords"? (Theater Street -a location in downtown Mobile and about five miles from the Dog River)
------------------------
The "Dog River Swords" might be a Confederate euphemism for shoddy material.
During the war a CSA Quatermaster Major Julius Hessee at Mobile was charged on 24 counts by General Bragg with buying shoddy merchandise- mainly "double woof" Dog River Factory onasburg and from it fabricated "unfit" tents instead of uniforms". Confederate Industry by H. S. Wilson.
______________________
David Upton