Cotton and coal came into the docks at Factory Island, Saco, mostly from New York.
Raw materials were shipped to Biddeford and Saco by schooner, because water transport was less expensive than transport by railroad; Pepperell Mills owned two of their own schooners.
Finished goods bound for Boston and New York left from the same docks. The rail-lines adjacent to the mills were sometimes used for shipping of rush orders.
