News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-02-21
MICHAEL PHELANS WIDOW
BT CHARLES t. HARVEY.

BT CHARLES t. HARVEY.
The summer of 1853 witnessed the
commencement of the work of building the
ship canal which was to open up the WA
ters OF the greatest of lakes to the COM
mercial marine of its sister lakes in the
basin drained by the river ST. Lawrence,
and make possible the vast commerce
which has since been developed upon
and through those mighty waters. Then
the struggling village of ''Sault Ste Ma
RE, situated near the base of the falls of
the st. Mary's river (which with
over sixteen feet OF descent within
one lineal mile, compelled land carriage
of persons and property around them),
WAS nearly as remote from the outer
world, as settlement upon the shores of
Hudson Bay would be at the present
time. Two pairs of horses hauling cars
upon a tramway around the falls then
suficed to transfer all the commerce of
the Lake Superior region
The Federal Government having in
1852, made grant of land to the State
of Michigan III trust, wherewith to Sc
cure the means for building q canal
arc and those falls, that State sub-let
the work of constructing it, for the right
to the lands, to a corporation composed
of Eastern State capitalists, who APP
pointed the writer of this narrative as
their executive under the title of Gem
eral Agent, to organize force of work
men and enter upon the undertaking.
His headquarters we're first temporar-
ily located at Detroit, as the nearest
city, in direct communication, where he
enlisted aud accompanied force of
some five hundred men as the first de-
tachment, and loaded one of TIE large
lake steamers with them, and q due
quota of supplies and provisions, tools,
machinery, horses, lumber, etc, for
transportation to the locality of the
work, as the sparsely settled region
about the falls. could not be relied
upon for such recourses to any appreci-
able extent
A commiserat was organized on the
passage, and as soon as the landing was
made horses were hitched up into teams,
the lumEer hauled ON to the canal res
ervation, and III rs hours the men were
housed in improvise,l buildings and
regular meals provided for them.
The system adopted was to assign so
men to one house OF "shanty,' calculated
TO furnish eating and sleeping space in
the main structure, while n wing fur
nished room for kitchen and the pri-
vate apartments of the family who acted
as stewards for that separate building.
Each was numbered, and all were under
the charge of a general steward who
had the care of the general supplies and
kept accurate accounts with each ''shan-
ty' showing the aggregate per diem
number of men boarded in comparison
with the quantity of provisions con-
sumed. Those stewards who furnished
the best return as to economy and eff
cheney were paid accordingly, while
those who were wasteful or sloveuly
were weeded ont. To this was added
later a hospital and infrmary annex
where workmen meeting with accidents
or having serious sickness, were sent to
receive attention from salaried physic-
ians and trained nurses, free of charge,
as tho result of a small monthly per
capita payment from those earning
-~ases.-4IlssSe sanitary l.ssss-rs=---seF@s
so efficient that the cholera epidemic .
which swept over the country IN '54 !
aud stopped every other public work of
magnitude, while showing its presence
also at the ''Sault" did not cause panic,
nor suspend the..work for single day.
On June 4th, 1858, the third day
after Ianding-the workmon were organ
lied into working gangs of 30 each
under selected foremen, and formed IN
ranks, while the General Agent breaking
ground by loading the first barrow with
excavated material and wheeling it out
to the dump" set an example which
was received with cheer by the men,
and generally followed, to continue for
nearly two years, up to the time when
the men were again gathered In n group
to see the same individual, on the 10th
of April, 1856, open the slulce gate to
the outer Golfer dam on the Lake Super
ior levels and let its waters flow into the
finished canal prism, doubtless never to
be entirely excluded SO long as the world
endures.
The building of what was at that time
the greatest canal in the world, so far as
commercial importance or lock dImen-
sions were concerned, in such an unex-
ampled short space of time, was only
possible l.y employing all the men that
could work to advantage, and as mat
ter of fact the force was rapidly increas-
ed after the first 500 were fairly at
work. until between two and three thous-
and were busily employed and the line
of the work seemed to swarm like bee
hive. The number of boarding build
inps increased coTTespondingly until
between forty and fifty were under the
supervision of the corporate manage
ment. Thus far by way OF introduction
to the tale indicated 10y the caption, and
to the subsequent use of the first per
sonal pronoun therein. by the writer.
1t was in sultry afternoon in the
month of August, 1853, that was sit
ting writing in my private inner room
on the first floor of the construction
company's general Office building, i'm
provised near the banks of the st. Mary's
River Ship Canal, at the 800" (as that
point was generally designated). The
entrance was at my back, and as clerk
was usually in the outer Office to an
nounce visitors beforehand, l supposed
myself to be alone, and was absorbed
with my desk work. The sensation that
some one was breathing behind me led
me to wheel in my revolving chair, and
no doubt to look as / felt, greatly snr-
prised to find four unannounced lndl
vidua's near me who had apparently
been standing for some time with bated
breath waiting on my movements te
secure attention, which their entrance
had not before arrested.
The group was composed OF woman
and three girls, all neatly dressed, will
faces endowed with glow OF health
rudy as roses, combined with respect
full and quiet demeanor, rare to see a
that time, in that locality.
The eldest girl was about twelve, the
next about eight, and the youngest prob
ably four years of age, the mother, evi
IDENTIFY such from family resemblance,
was apparently of some thirty years old
Nather undersize /, AMI not especially
noticeable except for her head gear
which was a wonder to behold. / haC
seen pictures Of such as having adorned
high danes of the Queen Anne period
when an attempt was made to compress
most of the beauties of vegit able gar
den into the trimming of high crowned
hat, but now l saw a specimen upon
living model, making an appearance In
describably grotesque. My eyes wer
drawn especially to one ornament whlcl
seemed to be intended to represent
*"The statement that the traffic throug
the SauIt Ste Marie Canal for September eN
ceeded that Of the Suez Canal by 10000 ton
would probably be challenged by those no
familiar with the immense Development
the lake shipping interest. but statistics fu
nished by Gen. o. NJ. Poe prove this to be
fact. In addition to this, the past month re
cords a larger business through the cant
-. agfrN