Table of Contents
What were the dangers of the Erie Canal?
First, the Erie became a conduit for not only freight and passengers but also disease. Smallpox and cholera frequently “rode the canal,” affecting not only New York but also the Great Lakes states as well.
What were conditions like for the people working on the Erie Canal?
The workers lived on the edge of subsistence financially; physically, canal work was back breaking, dangerous, and at certain times fraught with the near certainty of cholera and malaria, which carried off sizable chunks of the work force during virulent years.
Was the Erie Canal a failure?
The Erie Canal transformed New York City into America’s commercial capital. Believing the Erie Canal to be a pork-barrel project that would only benefit upstate towns, many of New York City’s political leaders tried to block its construction. Good thing for them that they failed.
What conflict was the Irish canal workers involved in?
Shiners’ War
| Shiner’s War | |
|---|---|
| Date 1835 to 1845 Location Bytown, now Ottawa45.417°N 75.7°WCoordinates:45.417°N 75.7°W Result Combatives arrested | |
| Belligerents | |
| “Shiners” (gang of Irish-Catholic immigrants) | French Canadian Other citizens of Bytown |
| Commanders and leaders |
How many workers died building the Erie Canal?
50,000 workers
Erie Canal: 1,000 deaths Of the 50,000 workers, 1,000 lost their lives, due to disease from the swampy terrain and careless use of gunpowder while blasting. Others drowned or were buried under tons of rubble from frequent canal collapses.
How did the Erie Canal affect slavery?
The Erie Canal linked the regions of the U.S. that had abolished slavery by the 1820s, helping their economies. In addition, the people who settled the upper midwest were generally either religious New Englanders or immigrants, neither of which were groups that tended to practice slavery.
Why was the Erie Canal important to New York?
By providing cheaper and more efficient means to transport goods, the canal had a substantial and enduring impact on the economic development of New York State, as well as the United States as a whole. The canal’s construction began in 1817 and officially opened for travel in 1825.
How was the Erie Canal built before Dynamite?
The Erie Canal was built decades before the invention of dynamite to efficiently blast through stubborn rock, or steam-powered earth-movers and excavators to clear mud, rock and rubble.
Where are the locks on the Erie Canal?
A lock on the Erie Canal. Lockport was a series of five locks which raised the canal 50 feet up the Niagara Escarpment near to the Lake Erie end of the canal. The final section of the Erie Canal posed the greatest challenge of all. The Niagara Escarpment, the same elevated rock formation that created the Niagara Falls, blocked access to Lake Erie.
Who was Wright’s assistant on the Erie Canal?
Wright sent his assistant, a young man named Canvass White, to spend a year in England to learn everything he could about locks, the brilliant method first conceived by Leonardo Da Vinci for raising and lowering boats to accommodate changes in elevation. Returning to America, White helped make a key discovery.