The main objective of this investigation is to obtain experimental data for the sulfuric acid hydrolysis of cotton and mechanically pretreated cotton fibres. These data indicate that some glycosidic bonds of cellulose have very high accessibility to catalytic ions. It was also shown that milling increases the accessibility of some glycosidic bonds of cellulose and decreases the volume of the crystalline regions of cotton. From the glucose yield versus time data, it was found that the effect of milling on the rate of cellulose depolymerization depends on the reactivity and accessibility of the glycon rings of cellulose. It was also found that at 100-degrees-C, the rate of cellulose depolymerization was not affected by the extraction of cotton wax and this was related to a rolling up process of cotton wax caused by melting. The kinetic constants of glucose degradation and cellobiose hydrolysis have been determined for the stochastic simulation of cellulose depolymerization which is the subject of the second part of this work.