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Two whale oil lamps cast a dim light.

“It was a tinderbox,” Godfrey said, filled with steam-driven spinning machines that covered the floors with a combustible dust — in rooms lit by windows and candlelight, on machines lubricated by whale oil.

The industry was in high demand as Americans had begun to rely on whale oil as fuel for lamps, ingredients for soap, and lubricants for everything from guns to typewriters to machinery.

At some point the mill managers discovered that washing the raw fiber in a mixture of 90 percent water and 10 percent whale oil made raw jute less likely to snag in fast-moving machinery.

Demand for whale oil dropped when petroleum, which had begun to supplant it around the mid-19th century, gained popularity.