Arthur Cunynghame, a British army officer stationed in
Canada, obtained
a few weeks' leave of absence for the purpose of making a tour of the United States.
Cunynghame embarked on the canal boat the "Queen of the Prairies", October 12th, 1850 at 5 P.M., enroute to LaSalle, 96 miles from Chicago.
Cunynghame's rare and interesting narrative gives the
reader a personal and
rather humorous description
of travel on an I & M canal boat. This mode of transportation lasted
only a short period of time until the railroads
offered faster and
more comfortable transportation.The cabin of this canal boat was about 50 feet in length, 9 feet wide, and 7 feet high. About 90 passengers within this
confined space,
in which we were to sleep, eat, and live; the nominal duration of
our passage was
twenty hours, but
it eventually proved
to be twenty-five; our baggage was secured on the roof of the boat, and covered with canvass, to screen at from the effects of the weather. A sort of divan surrounded the
cabin, the portion appropriated to
the ladies being
screened off during
the night with a curtain.
For the first
few miles we, in company with three more canal boats, were towed by a small steamer, but having passed the locks, not very distance from
Chicago, three horses were attached, which towed us
smoothly along at the rate of five miles an hour.
Soon after we had started, tea with its accompaniments made its
appearance, the
never-failing beef-steak being as tough as usual. As soon as this was disposed of, all the male passengers
were ordered on
deck, while the parlor should be transformed into
a bed-room; in less than half-an-hour we received permission to
return, in which
short time no less than fifty sleeping places
in this small space had been rigged up, and twenty more spread
upon the floor; the remainder of the passengers, about twenty in number, for the most part children, being detailed off to share their tenements
with their pa's
and ma's. These sleeping-places consisted of
shelves placed three
deep, the entire length of the cabin, on either side, with a height of two feet
between each.
(Illinois and Michigan Canal, no pp.)
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Into these berths
we were ordered
to get; and after some difficulty, especially
amongst those to
whom this mode of traveling was new, we obeyed; the remainder of the passengers, selecting their locations in succession, or according to the number on their tickets.I soon
became insensible
to the uncomfortable
position of which
I occupied, although, only six inches above my
face a tremendous
man threatened every
moment to burst
through the sacking
which supported him; and had the cords given way, I felt I must have been squeezed
as flat as a pancake.
With so many
passengers in so
confined a space, no wonder that on the following morning
I should awake with a severe headache, the effect of the heated nauseous vapours
which surrounded us. Not a window was permitted
to be opened; I made various endeavors to
break through this
rule during the
night, but every window within
my reach was fastened down. This, however, may be considered but a wise precaution; for the malaria from the surrounding
marshy land, and especially from
Mud Lake, distance
about fifteen miles from
Chicago, which we
passed within a very
short distance,
is very dangerous
. . .
At six P.M., we reached LaSalle; here is the termination
of the Illinois
Canal, and the navigable portion
of the Illinois
river.
(Vierling 1986, 50) |