In the early days of textile manufactures, the locality of the factory depended upon the existence of a stream having a sufficient fall to turn a water wheel; and, although the establishment of the water mills was the commencement of the breaking up of thedomestic system of manufacture, yet the mills necessarily situated upon streams, and frequently at considerable distances the one from the other, formed part of a rural, rather than an urban system; and it was not until the introduction of the steam power as a substitute for the stream that factories were congregated in towns, and localities where the coal and water required for the production of steam were found in sufficient quantities.