Refresh of the Canal's Importance
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the return of Canal Stories, a series brought to you by the Canal Corridor Association celebrating the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the communities that were shaped by its legacy. This story of the role of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in the development of the nation has longed been ignored as it has been encapsulated in the broader story of the Market Revolution under internal improvements is brought to you by Wayne Duerkes, PhD.
The Illinois and Michigan canal’s impact on the young nation was profound. Beginning in 1822, with congressional approval, the state of Illinois was authorized to build a canal. The mere idea of linking the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River served as the catalyst for further expansion west of the Alleghenies. Dreamers and schemers pushed into the nascent state bound to create a new and profitable footing. These intrepid migrants headed west with thoughts of improving their financial futures. With thousands of ambitious people flooding into northern Illinois with a like mindset; plans of regional economic growth coalesced to make northern Illinois into the lynchpin of national waterway transportation and market expansion.
In 1825, with the opening of the Erie Canal, politicians and economic boosters realized that expanding the market’s reach into the West would produce extraordinary benefits. Boosters were individuals that fervently sold the idea of their place of business to increase their financial growth and power. First, as many gazetteers and travel guides had identified, millions of acres of arable land could be cultivated to bring forth agricultural output that was desperately needed in the East. The western lands were expansive, needed limited tree removal, and were relatively stone free unlike eastern farmland. This meant it took a minimal amount of effort for the land to start producing crops. Also, the first vestiges of urbanization and industrialization, that brought increasing numbers of the population into the cities and off the farms, had a significant effect on the land’s productivity in the eastern states. The ever-increasing population encumbered the already heavily used farm lands. This coupled with the agricultural labor drain to industry—who still needed foodstuff—forced more emphasis on westward expansion.
Second, East Coast boosters were cognizant of the West’s established relationship with the Mississippi Valley and sought to position themselves from losing control of this vast market contributor. Initially, the entire Mississippi watershed filtered southward to New Orleans. The natural continental drainage bestowed to the Crescent City considerable market dominance. Southern politicians and businessmen believed that the strong economic influence on the entire West from southern markets would be constant. Therefore, southern boosters took a lackadaisical approach to their efforts to maintain this control. Eastern boosters were much more aggressive in their efforts. They sought to establish permanent control of the national market by having their people out west to advocate for the flow of commodities eastward. Famous Chicago figures like William Butler Ogden, John Wright, and Walter Newberry pushed for the connection between the village on the lake and New York’s harbor.
During the construction years, the economic impact of the canal is quite evident. The Chicago land office sold 2,780,640 acres to individual purchasers. This data indicates a large influx of people and of local investment dollars. Additionally, Chicago’s exports grew from $1,000.64 in 1836 to $2,296,299 in 1847; a 229,383 per cent increase, while imports went from $325,203.90 to $2,641,852.52 for a 712 per cent increase. The exports from the region funneled to and through the canal to the Chicago port, while simultaneously distributing the exports back through the canal to the western communities. Western farmers used the agricultural exports to finance the imports from the East that they could not produce themselves. This relationship, back and forth, drove the national market. Five essential commodities led this massive growth in regional exchange: wheat and corn as exports, and sugar, lumber, and merchandise as imports The phenomenal growth during the twelve construction years was dwarfed by the first six years of operations. This all encourage more migrants and, in response, a larger market to support the country’s growing needs.
The two components—arable land and migrants from the east coast—brought together by the anticipated canal, served to build northern Illinois into an economic powerhouse. This growth spurred on the flow of commodities from east to west and vice versus on a level barely anticipated by early canal advocates. This brought continued global attention to the young nation as it expanded westward and with its ability to provide food exports to countries in need. It also allowed the nation to feed itself which is a prerequisite to being a global force. This expansion, though, came at a cost. The government actively sought to displace local indigenous peoples for Anglo settlement and land settlement. Growth always has consequences, though, during the nineteenth century, Anglo Americans deemed these consequences necessary to grow the country and to seek wealth. The expectation and the opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal was pivotal to both these efforts to be achieved. Shortly after opening, the vibrant canal era was coming to a close. But the effects of the canal had established Chicago and northern Illinois as the political and economic powerhouse of middle America. This spurred further western expansion and set the stage for the northern states to be the most powerful national region for the sectional violence that would develop in the 1860s.
That concludes today’s Canal Story. Thank you so much for joining us as we continue our journey through the history of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, pass it along to your family and friends, be sure to leave us a like or drop us a comment, and we’ll see you again very soon.