Life on the Erie Canal represented a culture all its own, a way of existence that included its own vocabulary, its own laws, its own dangers and its own beauty. For some, it was a hard, demanding life. No doubt it was for many of the thousands whose livelihood depended on it during the canal’s peak years. Yet it offered special rewards that people found irresistible. The world of the canal was an escape from the ordinary and had its own special excitement.
The men who worked on the canal, or “canallers,” had colorful vocabularies and were among the most creative word-coiners in American history. Many of their expressions found a permanent place in America’s speech, but most of them disappeared at the end of the canal era. A “hoodledasher,” for example, was a hookup of two or more empty cargo boats behind a full cargo boat so that one team of mules could pull all of the boats at the same time. “Hit the logs” had the same meaning as today’s “hit the road” — the roads then were mostly “corduroy” with a log base. “Long-eared robins” referred to mules, so did “hayburners.” A “hoggee” was the term for a boy driver, probably an outgrowth of the English word, “hogler,” which meant a field laborer of the lowest class in early England.
Child labor was an accepted part of the national scene in America of the 19th century, and young boys found ready employment on the Erie Canal. The glamour of canal life had a great attraction for youth, as much, say, as going to sea or joining the circus — even for a future President of the United States. Among the children of the canal era was James A. Garfield whose father had been one of the workers in the construction of the canal. Garfield had been a canal man himself, working as a driver onboard the canal boat, “Evening Star.”
A missionary society report in 1848 claimed that some 10,000 boys, between the age of 10 and 15 years old, were employed on the canals of New York. Nearly all of them worked as drivers; that is, they walked the towpath with the mules and horses keeping them in line and moving at the necessary speed. The mules were generally in teams of two or three, one ahead of the other. Sometimes the boys would ride on the last mule, but that was usually forbidden by most captains. The boys worked two 6-hour shifts, regardless of weather, just like the mules. It was not an easy job, nor were the employers generous in payments they provided the youngsters. Hoggees were paid from $8 to $10 a month — the bottom of the financial scale in the canal’s organizational chart. Many of the boys never even received the pittance due them. The boys were customarily paid their wages in full at the end of each navigation season, but it was not uncommon for unscrupulous canal boat captains to cheat the youngsters out of part or all of their earnings. Often the captains would treat the young boys very poorly as they neared the end of the season, hoping the young boy would quit and would not collect his small pay.
To pass away the lonely hours on the towpath, hoggees often sang verses like the following:
“Hoggee on the towpath five cents a day,
picking up mule balls to eat along the way,
Hoggee on the towpath don’t know what to say,
walk behind a mule’s behind, all the live-long day.”
Doug Farley is director of the Erie Canal Discovery Center. Contact him at (716) 434-7433. The Discovery Center is closed for the season. Call for arrangements to visit.
Erie Canal Discovery
Related Photos
Discussion
April 8, 2008
FARLEY: Life on the Erie Canal
- Erie Canal Discovery
-
-
FARLEY: The Erie Canal gun telegraph
The following communication was first published by the Buffalo Historical Society on April 7, 1863.
- FARLEY: The ice house on the canal The history of the Erie Canal is filled with information that doesn’t seem to fit into a typical category. One such item was gleaned from the life of Paul Murphy, born in Hartland in 1892.
-
FARLEY: Railroads along the canal — Part 2
By 1860, with passenger travel settled in favor of the railroads, the next course of business lay in the transportation of freight. New York state had a vested interest in protecting its state owned Erie Canal.
-
FARLEY: Railroads — Part 1
Vastly different, yet still very similar, the Erie Canal and the American railroads left their own marks on history. The Erie Canal traces its beginning to 1807 and the writings of Jesse Hawley, who wrote an early description of a canal which would join the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean.
-
FARLEY: The life and times of an Erie Canal cook
We have learned much about life on the Erie Canal from one of its best friends, Richard Garrity of the Tonawanda’s. His remembrances of growing up on the canal help us to picture the scene in our minds eye. The following narrative is graciously attributed to Mr. Garrity.
-
FARLEY: Recollections from an early settler
The owners of the first log home near what is now the Lockport Locks was acknowledged to be Dr. Isaac Smith and his wife, Edna Deane Smith. The couple operated an infirmary out of their cabin. Anyone who was hurt as a result of work on the Erie Canal would most likely have been taken to the Smith home. Mrs. Smith, a Quaker, affectionately known as Aunt Edna, served as a nurse for her husband.
-
FARLEY: Life on the Erie Canal
Life on the Erie Canal represented a culture all its own, a way of existence that included its own vocabulary, its own laws, its own dangers and its own beauty. For some, it was a hard, demanding life. No doubt it was for many of the thousands whose livelihood depended on it during the canal’s peak years. Yet it offered special rewards that people found irresistible. The world of the canal was an escape from the ordinary and had its own special excitement.
-
FARLEY: The story of Edith Kohler — Part 2
The story this week is part two of the personal experiences of Edith Kohler who was born on the Erie Canal and lived to be over 100 years old in Lockport. These remembrances were told to others during the waning years of her life.
-
CANAL DISCOVERY: The experiences of Edith Kohler — part one
Many stories are told about the workers who built the Erie Canal. Other stories focus on the men, women and children that lived and worked on the canal. Lockport is fortunate to have a plethora of stories that have been passed down by a grand lady who grew up on a canal boat.
- CANAL DISCOVERY: Bridges over the canal The history of the Erie Canal contains quite a few stories of men and women who received an “up-close and personal” understanding of the term “low bridge.” Many of the stories pertain to the poor souls who failed to heed a captain’s shout of “down on deck” or “bridge.”
- More Erie Canal Discovery Headlines
-
Defense Rests in John Edwards Trial
GM Says It Will Stop Paying for Ads on Facebook
911 Call: Confusion at Home Where Mom Shot Kids
Jury Convicts Steve Powell of Voyeurism Charges
Skechers to Pay $40 Million for Bogus Claims
Coffee May Be Key to Living Longer
Police to Groom of Slain Bride: Turn Yourself In
Laurie Fine: My Life Has Been Destroyed
FTC: Skechers Deceived Consumers With Shoe Ads
FBI Confirms Leak Probe on Al-Qaida Plot
Romney Calls Obama a 'Disappointment'
Honda Unveils New Robotics-powered Scooter
NJ Gov., Mayor Channel Seinfeld in Video Parody
Blood Drive for Woman With Flesh-Eating Disease
AG Race Tops Oregon Primary Interest
Obama Welcomes Beckham, Galaxy to White House
Raw Video: Mladic's Genocide Trial Under Way
Court Records Detail Zimmerman Injuries
Local Community Prepares for G8 Summit
New Guidelines for US Nuclear Plants
