Some Notes about this National Heritage Corridor:
1. "To dig a canal, at least four things are necessary - a pick, a shovel, a wheelbarrow, and an Irishman" (popular saying, 19th century).
2. Wages were a dollar a day.
3. The canal construction started on July 4, 1836.
4. In 1838, death took 1,000 of the 1,500 canal workers (by impure water, malaria, accidents, etc).
5. Finally, the canal was done in 1848, nearly 100 miles long connecting between Mississippi river and Michigan Lake.
6, A year after the canal was completed, the population of Chicago increased by 6 times. Soon, Chicago became the largest city in the Midwest and the largest city in between New York and New Orleans.
Inside the historical Wells Corner School at the Pioneer Settlement of I&M Canal.
Hmm... Let me see where we are going next.
Out of battery
I am back!
