Wanted: Illinois & Michigan Canal Workers
Information for Townspeople
Then Nuncius Aquarius approached Little Falls locks. Passengers found the process of "locking through" a welcome break from the confinement of the boat. They could step ashore, stretch their legs, and observe the locking operations. It took most of an hour to get through the four locks at Little Falls, so there was time to sketch or talk to the lockkeeper's children and pet his dog. The locks were operated from sox o'clock in the morning until eight in the evening, six days a week.
On Sundays, when the canal was shut down, the packet boats usually anchored near a town so that their passengers could spend the day on shore. Other boats lay by for a day of rest wherever they found themselves. The children might go to church if they were near one; more likely, they would find themselves on a quiet bend in the canal with nothing to do but fish or swim. For this reason, the ladies on the packet didn't consider canal boats very suitable for raising children. Canal boaters had a close community in spite of their always being on the move. Everyone on the canal knew each other, and their children usually found work on the canal when they grew up.
(Boyer 1986,34)
Return to Wanted: Illinois & Michigan Canal Workers Lesson Plan