Linda, Try looking at Peter Way's book _Common Labour: Workers and the Digging of North American Canals, 1780-1860_. He's pretty left, and might offer up some clues in this area. I remember a particularly disturbing passage in which he describes the blasting of rock--the canalers would raise their shovels over their heads to protect them from the scattered debris--which worked fine except in cases where big boulders flew loose, and they were crushed. Not the life for nervous academic types, I suppose. Mike At 08:12 AM 9/27/99 -0500, you wrote: >I could really use a little help here. > >Now, for some background on why I need help.I am currently working on a >history of the Washington County Poor House. It's amazing how much of the >history that often is NOT told can be inferred from the demographics of the >Poor House. And it leads me to research some rather obscure subjects. > >The sudden influx of (Champlain)canal "boatmen" into the PH every winter was >something I at first considered merely a weather indicator: that was when it >got COLD in NY! (Even I knew that.) But their seasonal stay every year until >spring turned out to relate to the fact that the canal FROZE OVER every year >and stopped functioning. That meant that canal workers (who were almost all >transient by definition)-- especially those who were single -- were actually >seasonal workers who became unemployed & homeless each winter and went into >the PH. That all by itself was rather fascinating -- but then I began to >notice the incredible proportion of boatmen whose "cause of dependence" was >"loss of an arm". I haven't crunched all the statistics yet; but it is >patently obvious that there was not yet any OSHA to pester people about safe >working conditions! Then I went looking for information about working >conditions on the canals in the 1800s. > >I'm having a heck of a time finding anything except "glowing" histories of >the glories of the canal era. Apparently not too much was published about >the downside in human terms. Several years ago I found a reference on-line >that intrigued me; now I want to follow up on it. The Yale newspaper >reported on an exhibit at which a man named Daniel Bender spoke. Here's what >the article said: >------------------------------------------------------------------ >American history major Daniel Bender '95, who recently published an article >in the Connecticut History Journal, presented a lecture on the "uneasy >peace" that Irish laborers on the canal experienced between 1828 and 1848. > >Unlike most other canal workers in the country, Bender noted, the laborers >made no discernible attempts at resistance despite barely tolerable working >conditions. > >"The contractors were the undisputed masters," Bender said. "They provided >housing, food, alcohol, and wages. The Irish were separated by their >lifestyle, their religion, and their accents. The canal was >all they had." > >Bender discussed the hardships of daily life on the canal: the routine >danger, endless workdays, and unfair paltry wages. "This system was one of >the most oppressive forms of labor to exist in the >United States," he said. >-------------------------------------------- > >Now, that's a man I'd like to communicate with. He may have some answers to >my questions about all those lost arms! (Or he may be able to refer me to >some good sources.) I'd like to start by reading the "paper" they refer >to -- but the article doesn't cite his paper very well. It must have been >published in 1994 or 1995 in the Connecticut History Journal. Unfortunately, >I haven't >found (here in Texas) any way to get a list of what articles they published >those years. And if I subscribe to even ONE MORE historical society -- I may >have to go to the PH myself! Can anyone help me track this article and/or >this author down? It will be much appreciated. Thanks, Linda > -------------------------------------- Michael R. Fein Research Associate Harvard Business School (v) 617-496-7385 (f) 617-496-7366 [log in to unmask]