Diggers....A Tribute

The life of a canal digger on the I&M was one of hardship. Mostly Irish,these were men who left their homeland in search of a better life in America,only to find conditions that were,to say the least,apalling. Taking on a job that other men would not tackle,these immigrants worked up to a 16 hour day shoveling mud and breaking rock to create a prism 28 feet wide at the bottom and 60 feet wide between the banks. For this, they were paid (or promised at least) 1.00 per day,though in reality 80 cents was common,and as the State ran out of money they were paid in "Scrip",a promissory note redeemable for canal land. Even scrip lost it's value, at one point in time only returning 40 cents on the dollar. The only constant in their work was a daily allowance of 4 oz. of whiskey,which they believed kept them from becoming ill. Any luxuries such as blankets and candles were offered to them by the contractors, and their cost was deducted from their pay,often leaving them with nothing on payday. Living conditions were no better than squalid, sometimes 2-3 families to a shanty,and disease was rampant. Near Lasalle, hundreds were stricken by Malaria as well as heat stroke while they struggled to dig through low-lying swampland in temperatures reaching over 100 degrees. Though these hardy souls faced unthinkable conditions,there was only one strike in the 12 years it took to complete the work,not counting the years from 1842-1845 when the State suspended all work on the canal due to bankruptcy. All in all over 1000 men perished from their labors,most buried in unmarked graves along the route or in the few cemeteries that existed at that time,though most families were too poor to create a monument for the grave. To me,the canal is their monument, an everlasting tribute to the men who gave their blood,sweat,tears and sometimes lives to dig the 96 mile long ditch that would forever change the face of Northern Illinois.