The Development of the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Arrival of Immigrants

Alejandra Ponce de Leon
Carbondale Community High School, Carbondale

Today the most common form of transportation in the United States is the car. Everywhere you look, cars zip around on highways, city streets are clogged with traffic, and there are drive-through business establishments designed for the convenience of never having to step out of the car. Much of American life has evolved to suit the car as the primary form of transportation. This automobile craze began back in 1908, with Henry Ford's mass production of the Model-T Ford. But the use of waterways for transportation has had a longer history. Although the construction of canals had begun in America during the colonial days, the canal-cutting craze did not fully take hold until the construction of the Erie Canal in 1825. While the Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal may not have opened until 1848, several years after the Erie Canal, its construction was still very important in the history of Illinois. Not only did it lead to the development of new towns, but it also attracted large groups of immigrants to Illinois.

The first people to conceive the idea of a waterway between the Chicago and Illinois rivers were the early French explorers who first recommended it more than two hundred years ago. Although Albert Gallatin recommended the construction of a canal between these waterways to Congress in 1801, Peter B. Porter did not make the first formal proposal until 1810. By 1811 a bill was introduced into Congress to provide for the construction of a canal. Attention for the project was not gained until after the War of 1812, when Illinois strategically gained Indian land reaching into northern Illinois. Previously, northern Illinois had been an unsettled wilderness with the exception of a few dozen families in Peoria and a military and trading post in Chicago. The new state's borders were surveyed to

Each spring, canal barges crowded the I & M Canal after the long winter freeze.

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A barge prepares to go through one of the locks on the I & M Canal.

ensure that the canal would be within the state's borders, while connecting the Illinois River with the southern end of Lake Michigan.

The Illinois and Michigan Canal Association was created by the General Assembly in 1825 to have authority over the construction and operation of the canal, but its charter was quickly revoked. The state petitioned Congress for a grant to allow construction on the canal, which was estimated to cost $600,000. Instead, in 1827, by an act of Congress, 640-acre sections of land within five miles of the proposed canal were granted to the State of Illinois to finance the project. Land was granted for the full length of the canal, and alternate sections were reserved for the United States. A commission was created in 1829 to lay out small towns (now Ottawa and Chicago) at the proposed terminal points of the canal.

Settlers did arrive in the new district, but sales were slow and revenue was low. The construction of the canal was to begin in five years, but canal commissioners lost faith in the slow development of the canal district. The act of Congress was then amended so that the state could dispose of the land to create a railroad or a canal, whichever the state elected to build. This stalled commencement of the construction until 1836, when the sale of the lots netted $1,355,755. The proposed canal was extended westward to Peru, Illinois. On July 4 ground was broken in Canalport. Colonel William B. Archer, a commissioner and major contractor, broke ground. William Gooding was hired to supervise construction. Gooding was a professional canal engineer with previous experience on the Erie Canal.

The development of the Illinois and Michigan Canal began smoothly and overcame the 1837 depression. Nevertheless, in 1841 work had to be suspended due to a shortage of cash. An increase in European investment allowed for a return to construction after several years of political maneuvering. In April 1848, twelve years after construction was first begun, the canal opened for navigation.

One of the greatest impacts the Illinois and Michigan Canal has had on Illinois history was the influx of immigrants into the state. During the construction of the I&M Canal, the labor force was insufficient in the region. This led to the arrival of numerous workers from the New England and New York area. Not only did a strong labor force arrive to work on the construction of the canal, but many also came in hopes of capitalizing on the construction in one way or another. Many of these workers in search of capital ended up as contractors, organizing work contingents on the canal, and others

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became suppliers of needed materials and provisions. Most of the labor forces brought in to work on the digging of the canal were impoverished immigrants from eastern cities. The majority of these workers were Irish who responded to widespread advertising in the cities. After the completion of the canal, large numbers of workers stayed in the region. Some settled on public and unclaimed land without a title, thus being known as squatters, while others bought their own land. Yet, in both cases, these new settlers chose to try their hand at farming. Some chose to settle in new villages and towns to work at urban pursuits. Others invested and risked their earnings in substantial rural estates and manufacturing enterprises.

One of the largest groups of immigrants to arrive to work on the canal was the Irish. In 1836 laborers traveled westward to Chicago from the Erie Canal to work on the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Most found work as "paddies" digging the canals. By 1843 natives of Ireland were 10 percent of Chicago's 7,580 people. The Irish were one of the many immigrant groups who helped to establish an urban frontier and make Illinois the diverse population it is today. Among other immigrants were the Germans, Bohemians, Polish, Lithuanians, and Swedes. The arrival of new ethnic groups led to a great diversity in the canal area, particularly in and around Chicago.

The cultural impact of the Illinois and Michigan Canal remains strong to the present day. Even today, small towns developed near the canal such as Pilsen, Illinois, are proud to boast that they are, "world renowned for the diversity of the ethnical-racial groups living side by side." -[From W. J. Adelman, Pilsen and the West Side: A Tour Guide, R. James Albach, Annals of the West; Kay J. Carr and Michael P. Conzen, The Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor, Chicago Historical Society: Pilsen/Little Village, www.chicagohs.org/DGBPhotoEssay/plvintro.html (Sept. 5, 2001); Thomas W. Hart, Important Chapters in Illinois History; Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, "The Model T website," www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/showroom/1908/model.t.html (Sept. 5, 2001); Melvin E. Holli, The Irish in Chicago.]

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