Camp Sites along the old canals

[Gare]

When they were building the locks in the canals I am sure they did not go back into a town every night. Does anyone have any hints or tips on how to find places where workers camped while building the locks. I was told possibly they would camp up to a mile away from each lock while building them.Does anyone have any clues or hints on how to find such camp sites ? Any information on this wiykd be GREATLY APPRECIATED !!!

 

[ticndig]

Bump--- I'd like to know too. if anyone has some tips. I have just such a canal on my property , the unfortunate part is all the structures are across the canal on someone else's land .

 

[Blak bart]

Well I assume you mean the Erie barge canal ?? I go up through the locks with a large yacht on our way to the great lakes. We sometimes sleep at one of the locks for the night...my hunts were limited, and I never found much at the locks themselves. I've got a few horse shoes and clad coins....nothing spectacular. I have had better luck with insulators and bottles at the locks them selves. I too wondered where the builders and travelers camped....I will ask some lock tenders when I can. Very peaceful sleeping in the lock at night !! Man I'd love to find a good spot on that trip if I had a chance to hunt !!

 

[Gare]

Well I assume you mean the Erie barge canal ?? I go up through the locks with a large yacht on our way to the great lakes. We sometimes sleep at one of the locks for the night...my hunts were limited, and I never found much at the locks themselves. I've got a few horse shoes and clad coins....nothing spectacular. I have had better luck with insulators and bottles at the locks them selves. I too wondered where the builders and travelers camped....I will ask some lock tenders when I can. Very peaceful sleeping in the lock at night !! Man I'd love to find a good spot on that trip if I had a chance to hunt !!

Bart around 1835 to 1848 they built canal locks here in Ohio. They used to haul goods on them before the railroads came into existance. I am sure they camped near each lock when building them. i am trying to find there camp places here in North East Ohio Hope this helps buddy

 

[Blak bart]

Now I understand....I did not know of the locks in Ohio. So I got to learn something new....thank you my friend and good luck on your quest for info !!

 

[pepperj]

Don't know anything about your local canal. Though probably every construction of a major undertaking was similar.
Date of construction would be the first objective, and then figure out if was for example a railway where it forged through inhabitant lands.
Meaning the towns kind of grew around the railway, or linking the towns up as they went through.
So was the canal system construction doing the same, or were there towns/hamlets along way?
If there were then the towns folks would of been utilized for work, and the construction camps would be minimum.

The major camps along the railways were at tunnels, rock cuts, bridges and they would be along any flat ground near the construction.
These camps we detected (very minimally)but digging for bottles for many years was the objective.
The Rideau Canal that was constructed from Kingston to Ottawa had the major camps at the lock construction, or from the local Hamlets and towns.
Most transit labour were just where ever they were working, and the nearest flat land was the home.
It seems that ever canal, highway, railway there is a author(s) and there's books written.

 

[Hunter1805]

Yes... I was invited to detect a race track on a farmers land about a mile from the Erie Canal. We did not find a thing related to the old track but about 500 yards away I noticed a small mound in the field. So I headed in that direction and I noticed some broken glass in the field as I got closer to the tiny mound. I know for a fact the guy who invited me was kind of disappointed when we were done.. We found 12 large cents all dated before 1829 we also found 3 reales from the 1700 and 1800 hundreds. I was never invited back but what a great day of detecting. So the only thing that made sense was it was an area that provided meals and maybe sleeping quarters for the canal workers. The canal is about a mile away in a somewhat wooded area. No town near by. So I am going with a canal camp. There were hundreds of workers did they sleep on the job, I don't think so. They needed to get away. So a mile away on a small mound near the canal in open land, could help find the camps...

Also I found a bunch of large cents and some Canada 1812 tokens at another camp. A camp in the middle of nowhere that held workers who were building a Rail Road Trestle. 1840s was when it was built but it was replaced years ago. So a area without a town near by forced these workers to camp close to their job. ... I found 2 RR camps .. and with it found many many coins. I found the privy but I have not dug it but will. So RR Trestles, RR Tunnels, RR Bridges all have great potential if located far from towns. Look near creeks, flat land elevated land for the camps. They are near the area of work. .. Good Luck ..Jim

 

[tamrock]

You might wanna start reading. I would read book on the early Railways in the Colorado mountains as the rails were build to serve the many mining communities going on in the later 19th century. You might find out about the location of towns devoted to the construction of the rail or towns set up at one end of a mountain pass to transport gold and silver from a place the rail hadn't got to yet. There were many little towns that were boom and bust that served only a purpose for a short time.

Google Search

 

[Gare]

Yes... I was invited to detect a race track on a farmers land about a mile from the Erie Canal. We did not find a thing related to the old track but about 500 yards away I noticed a small mound in the field. So I headed in that direction and I noticed some broken glass in the field as I got closer to the tiny mound. I know for a fact the guy who invited me was kind of disappointed when we were done.. We found 12 large cents all dated before 1829 we also found 3 reales from the 1700 and 1800 hundreds. I was never invited back but what a great day of detecting. So the only thing that made sense was it was an area that provided meals and maybe sleeping quarters for the canal workers. The canal is about a mile away in a somewhat wooded area. No town near by. So I am going with a canal camp. There were hundreds of workers did they sleep on the job, I don't think so. They needed to get away. So a mile away on a small mound near the canal in open land, could help find the camps...

Also I found a bunch of large cents and some Canada 1812 tokens at another camp. A camp in the middle of nowhere that held workers who were building a Rail Road Trestle. 1840s was when it was built but it was replaced years ago. So a area without a town near by forced these workers to camp close to their job. ... I found 2 RR camps .. and with it found many many coins. I found the privy but I have not dug it but will. So RR Trestles, RR Tunnels, RR Bridges all have great potential if located far from towns. Look near creeks, flat land elevated land for the camps. They are near the area of work. .. Good Luck ..Jim

Thanks Jim you are so INFORMATIVE I SURE APPRECIATE your FRIENDSHIP !!!

 

[pepperj]

I live on the tributary waters of the Rideau Canal and have camp sites or non documented houses/camps on the property. The dam system was constructed in the early 1820's. (The canal system 202 km and 47 locks and 52 dams was completed in 1832. Most of it passed through unsettled wilderness, but the main camps were settled in one location.)
When this was brought up with the local authors at different times they discounted it-right off the bat. It's documented so it's not plausible. They would ask what made me think that there was?
Rubble stone, iron, buttons, coins, glass everything that one would dig at a homestead or similar inhabited spot.

Digging along the construction camps of the CPRail, the camps were right at the working site. Not a mile away, as it wouldn't be possible actually because of the topography of the mountain ranges. 1800-1885 construction period.

Camps were very close to the rock cuts/tunnels then if the track s were laid on friendlier land the camps stayed at the same location, then they could be a mile or so away from the worksite, but still right beside the rail.

 

[pepperj]

Many can't appreciate today the difficulties that were faced. Not only by the men working on the job, but in many cases their families. Several of the Sappers and Miners had their families stationed with them. Some of the Irish labourers brought their families to the work sites, building rough shanty cabins. Others left their families in the newly created Bytown or the more established town of Kingston. We don't know much about the families on the work sites since the official records generally don't mention them. Some places, such as the work site at Kingston Mills, grew into small communities. A census done in November 1830 shows 101 buildings located on the site, including three licensed public houses (O'Reilly's, Franklin's and Mahoney's), a Catholic chapel, a store, and a schoolhouse.

 

[crashbandicoot]

Great history guys,I love it.The canals that were dug in my area were all dug with steam dipper dredges.The quarters for the workers were on board the dredges so camps were few.