Bob Potter
“I was born the 17th of September, 1873 right here in Russellville. Daddy’s name was Dick, and mother’s was Ann Potter. Yes, we used to have our tasks to do before going to bed. We’d have a little basket of cotton and we had to pick the seeds all out of that cotton before we went to bed. And we could all card and spin. Yes sir, make that old spinnin’ wheel go z-z-z-z as you walked back and forth drawing out the spool of yarn.” – Bob Potter
A.J. Pesaro ’24
Muckle (walking) spinning wheels, as opposed to treadle spinning wheels, were powered by a person turning it by hand. When the worker turned the wheel, they would slowly step backwards, drawing out and twisting raw fibers as they moved. When the wheel reversed, they would walk back towards it as the spun yarn was wound onto the spindle. If they didn’t move their spinning wheel to a different part of the room every year, deep furrows could be worn into the floorboards. The Muckle wheel could be inexpensively home made (unlike the more complex treadle wheel) but was dangerous because the spindle was an exposed thin rod of iron that could be quite sharp. It is this type of spinning wheel that inspired the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.
Sources
- Federal Writers' Project: Slave Narrative Project, Vol. 2, Arkansas, Part 5, McClendon-Prayer. 1936
- Spinning Wheels, Spinners & Spinning, Patricia Baines 1978, Scribner & Sons
