A 1771 map of the mouth of Mobile Bay by Bernard Romans along with his description of Mr. Krebs' "cotton gin" at Pascagoula from Page 291 of Hamilton's COLONIAL MOBILE (this was 23 years before Eli Whitney invented his gin)

" It is a strong frame of four stubs, each about four feet high, and joined above and below by strong transverse pieces ; across this are placed two round well-polished iron spindles, having a small groove through their whole length, and by means of treadles are by the workman's foot put in directly opposite motions to each other : the workman sits before the frame, having a thin board, of seven or eight inches wide, and in length of the frame, before him ; this board is so fixed to the frame that it may be moved over again and near the spindle ; he has the cotton in a basket near him, and with his left hand spreads it on this board along the spindles, which by their turning draw the cotton through them, being wide enough to admit the cotton, but too near to permit the seed to go through, which, being thus forced to leave the cotton in which it was contained, and by its rough coat entangled, falls on the ground between the workman's legs, while the cotton drawn through falls on the other side into an open bag suspended for that purpose under the spindles.

"The French in Florida have much improved this machine by a large wheel which turns two of these mills at once, and with so much velocity as, by means of a boy who turns it, to employ two Negroes at hard labor to shovel the seed from under the mill. One of these machines I saw at Mr. Krebs' at Pasca-Oocooloo, but as it was partly taken down, he claiming the invention was very cautious in answering my questions, I can not pretend to describe it accurately ; I am informed that one of those improving mills will deliver seventy or eighty pounds of clean cotton per diem."