While helping to work out a reference question about the “father of heavy industry in Biddeford”, Samuel Batchelder, I came across a book which he wrote about cotton manufacturing. Although this book does not mention Biddeford or Saco specifically, it does shed light on the world view of one of this area’s important early figures.

“Introduction and Early Progress of the Cotton Manufacture in the United States” by Samuel Batchelder — Find it at http://books.google.com/