Wanted: Illinois & Michigan Canal Workers
Information for Mule
or Horse Team Drivers
Towlines and towing. To pull boats along the canals a tow-rope about 270 to 350 feet long had one of its ends attached to the boat and the other end to a team of draft animals. The boat-end of the rope was actually attached to a "cleat," about 15 feet aft of the bow, on the gunwale facing the towpath, and the draft team-end to a strong, wooden bar, called a "single-tree," placed between the team members. Two to five draft animals were hitched to the single-tree by chain-traces running from the ends of the bar to the animal’s harnesses. Thus when the animals pulled the single-tree, the single-tree pulled the towrope, and that towrope pulled the boat. Progress, however, was slow as speeds greater than five miles per hour produced a wake that would undermine the banks. Speeds greater than five miles per hour were therefore not allowed.
Horses were used to pull passenger boats; mules to poll freight boats. Generally three horses were attached to each passenger boat (packet boat), and three to five mules to each freight boat. Moving at a brisk, fast trot, the horses pulled the packets at about five miles per hour, while the slower mules pulled the freight boats at speeds of 1½ to 3 miles per hour. Each working period was called a "trick," and for the mules the tricks were about six hours long. To change the teams at the end of each trick, mule barns were located near every lock, or at ten to fifteen mile intervals when the distance between the locks was great.
When under tow, the towline pulling on the cleat would tend to draw the boats away from the towpath. To keep the barge in the center of the channel a "rudder-man" stood with his back to the tiller and his feet braced against wooden cleats nailed to the deck. To guide the draft animals, "mule tenders" either walked along the towpath or rode one of the animals. If riding, the last mule was saddled (the "saddle mule") and the others driven from that position. Five mules were needed against the current (toward Chicago), fewer with the current (toward LaSalle). When against the currant the speed was about two miles per hour.
When two boats were to pass each other, the upstream (toward Chicago) boat had the right-of-way, but if one was a packet, then the packet had the right-of-way. To make a pass, the downstream team stepped away from the water and stopped. The downstream boat, however , continued drifting forward causing its towrope to go slack in the water and sink to the bottom. While this was occurring the steersman of the downstream boat guided it to the berm bank where it remained until the pass was completed. The upstream team simply stepped over the slack rope and the upstream boat floated over the same. That completed the pass.
(Vierling 1986, 47-48)
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