The superhighway of its day, the Erie Canal helped connect the eastern part of the nation with the West. This was a boon to both commerce and westward migration and expansion. However, this early 19th-century wonder came with a cost — the dark side of the Erie Canal.

Many of Clinton’s Ditch diggers were immigrants who were willing to take on the grueling, dangerous, low-paying work. More than 50,000 men signed up for the initial dig. If a worker became sick, injured or died, there were others eager to take his place — even at the low wage of 50 cents to a dollar a day. The horrible living conditions, sometimes inadequate food, and very real possibility of death from accident or disease did not deter the influx of workers.

One canal worker wrote to his sister in Ireland, telling her of his life and job in the brave new world. Writing from his tent near Utica in 1819, “I don’t know, dear Sister, if any of us will survive, but God willing, we will live to see a better day. Six of me tentmates died this very day and were stacked like cordwood until they could be taken away. Otherwise, I am fine.”

Sickness and death

As the work progressed that year through the swamplands of the Montezuma Marsh just south of Savannah, hundreds digging in the mosquito-infested muck fell ill with what they called the “Genesee Fever.” More than 1,000 workers were said to have died in those swamps. Construction halted during the summer until the marsh froze over during the winter.

The dead were buried in unmarked graves near the canal, but to this day those graves have never been located. Mastodon bones unearthed in the Montezuma Swamp at the time gained more interest than the burial of dead laborers. That discovery gave rise to local folklore, with stories of workers hearing “ghostly bellows” of the great beasts from the swamp.

Accidents and working conditions

Much of the original digging for the 363-mile ditch was done with picks, shovels and brute strength, utilizing animal power to clear trees and pull heavy loads. There were no official safety standards or equipment such as hard hats or safety netting. The black powder used to blast through rock formations was unpredictable. Men and boys, small enough to climb and place the volatile powder, were often killed or injured severely by explosions and falling debris. There were also frequent canal wall collapses, with victims being pinned under heavy debris, crushed or drowned.

Brutality, brawls and intoxication

Some contractors gave workers whiskey rations with their pay, fueling heavy drinking in the work camps, which led to frequent brawls. Tensions and disputes with locals over property damage and other issues also sparked violent encounters. Later in the 19th century, canal locks were hot spots for violence, with multiple taverns and stores that served competing canal workers, bosses and boatmen, as well as the locals. In a particularly rough area near present-day Lock 27 in Lyons known as “Battle Square,” brawls were a common occurrence. It was not unusual for floating corpses to be found in the locks as a result of fights or accidents. Dangerous working conditions and civil disorder in the early canal towns contributed to an unpredictable environment.

Other negatives

The construction and operation of the Erie Canal had a serious impact on the Iroquois people, a “dark side” of the canal often overlooked. The project rerouted water and disrupted natural ecosystems, leading to significant environmental damage, which greatly impacted fishing and other nature-based indigenous activities. The canal enabled westward expansion for settlers and industry, which further eroded indigenous independence and economy. Demand for land also accelerated disregard for indigenous land, which had been guaranteed by different treaties, but which lacked enforcement in the face of eminent domain.

Boatmen competition

In 1844, a deadly confrontation took place at Lock Berlin when two canal boats fought for the lead position at the lock between Lyons and Clyde. The resulting brawl left one dead and many wounded. The July 18, 1844, issue of the Clyde Eagle detailed the event from the testimony.

“ … the boat Patriot was trying to pass the scow boat Texas to get to the lock first … the scow … crowding her to the towing path, and while the boats were alongside each other or nearly so, Thomas Knight stepped on to the scow boat for the purposes of pushing the boats apart … when some words were passed, and he was struck with a club or pole; whereupon the captain of the Patriot went on board the scow, and then there was a general striking with clubs. Jerome Shaw, at this time was in the stern cabin, and had just sat down to his dinner, when on hearing a noise he got up and went out at the cabin window on to the scow, and had scarcely done so when he was knocked down with a club and beaten in so shocking a manner on and around his head that his skull was fractured in many places and a part of it completely beaten in.”

Shaw died from his wounds, and Knight was not expected to survive.

The lock at this location is no longer in use, but its remains are preserved and can be seen at Lock Berlin Park, 9121 Peters Road in Lyons, where a historic marker now stands referencing this incident.

Spreading disease

After completion, the Erie Canal became a pathway for the spread of cholera and smallpox, leading to epidemics in canal towns all along the towpath. A major epidemic of cholera in the mid-1840s caused work delays in the first expansion of the canal, as well as a high mortality rate among the primarily immigrant labor force. Canal laborers were often treated as outcasts and segregated from the general population, especially during epidemics.

In 1846, 26 unknown Erie Canal laborers were buried in Macedon in unmarked graves. That cemetery, now known as the “Canal Laborer Cemetery,” is the only known mass burial site for canal workers. A New York state historic marker tells the story at this cemetery’s location.

It is common that with many great historic marvels, there are uncomfortable, unfair or unsavory situations or events that cause death or considerable trouble and pain. Sometimes these stories are omitted from history. The Erie Canal is one of those with marvels with a dark side — that, when discovered, revealed, and incorporated into the narrative, tells us a much deeper story.