Read Online The Delaware Canal by Marie Murphy Duess - Free Book Online
Authors: Marie Murphy Duess
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yards of a lock would be allowed to pass first. When lock keepers felt that boatmen were flagrantly disregarding the rules of lockage, they would report the violators to the canal boss, who in turn would catch up to the offenders and administer a stiff fine.
It was also the lock tenderâs responsibility to keep the overflow control gates set and make certain that the sluiceways were clean and working. Depending upon where their locks were located, they may have been in charge of the waste gate. The company relied on them to report damages or leaks and, when possible, make repairs. They took care of their lock houses and the land on which the houses were located. They even hunted muskrats, which burrowed into the banks of the canal and caused some of the worst damage, often as much as $5,000 worth of damage. For all of this, the lock keepers were paid $4 a day and given free housing by the company.
They were expected to live by rules just as the canal men were, and they could lose their employment if reported by a canal boss for violations. They could be fired for being found drunk while working (and they worked just about all the time) or if they were away from the lock tender house for more than a week, regardless of whether they had someone else working the locks. They couldnât disturb their neighbors and, for the most part, were expected to respect the boatmen and not cause trouble with them or among them.
Some lock tendersâ children learned how to operate the gates at a young age. Mechanisms were protected in a âdoghouseâ similar to this one. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Canal Society Collection, National Canal Museum, Easton, PA .
Appointments of lock tenders were political, and being given the job of moving into a suspended lock tenderâs house depended upon which political party was holding the reins at the time. There were some who were well liked and kept their jobs until their deaths, and even after their deaths their wives and children were permitted to carry on.
To make extra money during the canal season, some of the lock tendersâ wives took in the boatmenâs laundry, baked breads and pies to sell to them and occasionally ran stores where the boatmen could purchase supplies and food. There were lock tenders who worked second jobs or farmed the land, so they trained their wives and children in the mechanics of operating the locks while they were away from their stations. Lock tenders normally worked on the maintenance and repair of the canal during the winter months, and they cut ice when the canal and river froze over and sold it to the icehouses. And there were times when it was their unfortunate job to help fish a dead mule or a human body out of the dark waters of the canal.
A young boy named James Lair was found dead in the canal one morning near the Yardley lock. He had been at the tiller the night before and the pilot was below in the cabin sleeping. When the captain realized that the boat had run aground, he raced up on deck to find the fourteen-year-old boy missing. They found him before noon with a gash on his face. They suspected that the boy nodded off, and as the boat moved under one of the bridges, he hit his head on the support, was knocked off the boat and drowned when the mules continued to pull the boat. 37
That was only one of several incidences in which a young boy or a man was found dead either in or beside the canal. In the November 1907 Bucks County Gazette , an article titled âFound Dead in a Canal Basinâ reported:
The body of Joseph Larrisey, of Bristol, was found early Tuesday morning in the small basin which is formed by the canal overflow in the lot between the railroad and the canalâ¦William P. Brink, the tender of No. 3 lock, at about 7:30 in the morning was attracted to the spot by noticing a derby hat on the bank of the basin and after going over to investigate saw the head of a man submerged in the shallow water .
And in
It was also the lock tenderâs responsibility to keep the overflow control gates set and make certain that the sluiceways were clean and working. Depending upon where their locks were located, they may have been in charge of the waste gate. The company relied on them to report damages or leaks and, when possible, make repairs. They took care of their lock houses and the land on which the houses were located. They even hunted muskrats, which burrowed into the banks of the canal and caused some of the worst damage, often as much as $5,000 worth of damage. For all of this, the lock keepers were paid $4 a day and given free housing by the company.
They were expected to live by rules just as the canal men were, and they could lose their employment if reported by a canal boss for violations. They could be fired for being found drunk while working (and they worked just about all the time) or if they were away from the lock tender house for more than a week, regardless of whether they had someone else working the locks. They couldnât disturb their neighbors and, for the most part, were expected to respect the boatmen and not cause trouble with them or among them.
Some lock tendersâ children learned how to operate the gates at a young age. Mechanisms were protected in a âdoghouseâ similar to this one. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Canal Society Collection, National Canal Museum, Easton, PA .
Appointments of lock tenders were political, and being given the job of moving into a suspended lock tenderâs house depended upon which political party was holding the reins at the time. There were some who were well liked and kept their jobs until their deaths, and even after their deaths their wives and children were permitted to carry on.
To make extra money during the canal season, some of the lock tendersâ wives took in the boatmenâs laundry, baked breads and pies to sell to them and occasionally ran stores where the boatmen could purchase supplies and food. There were lock tenders who worked second jobs or farmed the land, so they trained their wives and children in the mechanics of operating the locks while they were away from their stations. Lock tenders normally worked on the maintenance and repair of the canal during the winter months, and they cut ice when the canal and river froze over and sold it to the icehouses. And there were times when it was their unfortunate job to help fish a dead mule or a human body out of the dark waters of the canal.
A young boy named James Lair was found dead in the canal one morning near the Yardley lock. He had been at the tiller the night before and the pilot was below in the cabin sleeping. When the captain realized that the boat had run aground, he raced up on deck to find the fourteen-year-old boy missing. They found him before noon with a gash on his face. They suspected that the boy nodded off, and as the boat moved under one of the bridges, he hit his head on the support, was knocked off the boat and drowned when the mules continued to pull the boat. 37
That was only one of several incidences in which a young boy or a man was found dead either in or beside the canal. In the November 1907 Bucks County Gazette , an article titled âFound Dead in a Canal Basinâ reported:
The body of Joseph Larrisey, of Bristol, was found early Tuesday morning in the small basin which is formed by the canal overflow in the lot between the railroad and the canalâ¦William P. Brink, the tender of No. 3 lock, at about 7:30 in the morning was attracted to the spot by noticing a derby hat on the bank of the basin and after going over to investigate saw the head of a man submerged in the shallow water .
And in
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