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Backgrounder
Recognizing the Contributions of the Rideau Canal Workers
The Rideau Canal was first designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1925. Since then, the canal has been the focus of a great deal of historical research that has thrown considerable new light on the canal’s significance and meaning in Canadian history and to Canadians. The contributions of the workers who built the canal were not formally recognized in the original designation. In 2006, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada was asked to consider the contributions of the workers for designation as an event of national historic significance. In its deliberations, the Board felt that the contributions of the workers were integral to the story of the Rideau Canal and therefore recommended that the original designation be expanded to reflect their work. The Rideau Canal and its builders will be commemorated with two plaques and accompanying interpretive panels to be installed at prominent locations along the canal.
The Rideau Canal
Built between 1826 and 1832, the Rideau Canal is the only canal to have survived largely intact and remain fully operational from the great canal-building era of early 19th-century North America. The Rideau Canal exemplified the cutting edge of canal design because of its innovative “slackwater” approach and its ability to accommodate steam-powered vessels. It secured a transportation route from Lower Canada through the Great Lakes by providing an alternate and more defensible route to that along the St. Lawrence River. While built primarily for military reasons, the Rideau Canal also served a social and economic function. Until the 1850s, it was a key artery for the movement of goods and people in and out of Upper Canada/Canada West and, though its military importance declined as cross-border tensions eased in the second half of the 19th century, it continued to serve a commercial purpose for communities along its route until the 1930s. Since then, the canal has been largely used for recreational purposes. As well as being a National Historic Site, the Rideau Canal was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2007.
The Workers
Built through a wilderness of bush, swamps, and lakes, the completion of the 202-km Rideau Canal was a monumental feat. Responsibility for the construction of the canal was largely undertaken by private contractors who bid on one or more of the 23 sections that were put out to tender. However, the physical work itself depended overwhelmingly on the indispensable labour of artisans and labourers whose contributions made the Rideau Canal a reality and an integral part of Canadian history.
Each year, an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 workmen assembled at over two-dozen worksites along the long waterway. While some skilled workers, such as stonemasons or blacksmiths, were of English or Scottish descent, the great majority of the workforce were Irish and French Canadian labourers. They worked almost exclusively with hand tools such as axes, picks, and shovels, supplemented only by the aid of animals for heavy hauling. Toiling 12 to 16 hours a day, six days a week in summer – and, in some cases, working at quarrying and tree felling in winter – the labourers cleared the bush, excavated lock pits and channels, helped masons to quarry stone, erected wooden weirs and bridges, and built rubble embankments and masonry locks and dams.
The most serious threat to the well-being of the workers was disease. On the Rideau, the chief problem was “ague” or swamp fever, since diagnosed by medical historians as malaria. Suffering from malaria or through injury in their work, large numbers of Irish and workers of other backgrounds died during the construction of the canal. Some estimates put the number as high as 1,000, though no reliable statistics were kept.
In spite of the challenges, the workers and their employers successfully completed an extensive engineered canal system, which constituted one of the largest construction projects in 19th-century British North America. These labourers participated in the creation of a military engineering system of unprecedented complexity: the Rideau Canal.
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The Rideau Canal
Built between 1826 and 1832, the Rideau Canal is the only canal to have survived largely intact and remain fully operational from the great canal-building era of early 19th-century North America. The Rideau Canal exemplified the cutting edge of canal design because of its innovative “slackwater” approach and its ability to accommodate steam-powered vessels. It secured a transportation route from Lower Canada through the Great Lakes by providing an alternate and more defensible route to that along the St. Lawrence River. While built primarily for military reasons, the Rideau Canal also served a social and economic function. Until the 1850s, it was a key artery for the movement of goods and people in and out of Upper Canada/Canada West and, though its military importance declined as cross-border tensions eased in the second half of the 19th century, it continued to serve a commercial purpose for communities along its route until the 1930s. Since then, the canal has been largely used for recreational purposes. As well as being a National Historic Site, the Rideau Canal was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2007.
The Workers
Built through a wilderness of bush, swamps, and lakes, the completion of the 202-km Rideau Canal was a monumental feat. Responsibility for the construction of the canal was largely undertaken by private contractors who bid on one or more of the 23 sections that were put out to tender. However, the physical work itself depended overwhelmingly on the indispensable labour of artisans and labourers whose contributions made the Rideau Canal a reality and an integral part of Canadian history.
Each year, an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 workmen assembled at over two-dozen worksites along the long waterway. While some skilled workers, such as stonemasons or blacksmiths, were of English or Scottish descent, the great majority of the workforce were Irish and French Canadian labourers. They worked almost exclusively with hand tools such as axes, picks, and shovels, supplemented only by the aid of animals for heavy hauling. Toiling 12 to 16 hours a day, six days a week in summer – and, in some cases, working at quarrying and tree felling in winter – the labourers cleared the bush, excavated lock pits and channels, helped masons to quarry stone, erected wooden weirs and bridges, and built rubble embankments and masonry locks and dams.
The most serious threat to the well-being of the workers was disease. On the Rideau, the chief problem was “ague” or swamp fever, since diagnosed by medical historians as malaria. Suffering from malaria or through injury in their work, large numbers of Irish and workers of other backgrounds died during the construction of the canal. Some estimates put the number as high as 1,000, though no reliable statistics were kept.
In spite of the challenges, the workers and their employers successfully completed an extensive engineered canal system, which constituted one of the largest construction projects in 19th-century British North America. These labourers participated in the creation of a military engineering system of unprecedented complexity: the Rideau Canal.
News Release associated with this Backgrounder.
