Hoggees were men, women and children who used horses and mules to pull boats along the Erie Canal.
To build the Erie Canal, they used mules, horses and thousands of Irishmen with shovels and wheelbarrows. Benjamin Wright was the chief engineer. Wright and his men invented the stump puller and adapted a plow to cut brush.
It depended on the type of boat, but mules or horses usualy.
To build the Erie Canal, they used mules, horses and thousands of Irishmen with shovels and wheelbarrows. Benjamin Wright was the chief engineer. Wright and his men invented the stump puller and adapted a plow to cut brush.
Water is a cheaper means of travel than overland. Mules would pull the barges against the current.
Hoggee rode mules or horses who pulled packets (canal boats) on the Erie canal. Also they tended and cared for the animals pulling the boat.
The first Erie Canal was 4′ deep and 40′ wide with small barges. The barges were pulled by mules so it was smelly.
The Erie Canal was used by many thousands of people in New York and immigrants that went on to settle in the Midwest.
The Erie Canal is still used mostly for recreation and fishing. But there are some barges of corn and wheat for ethanol production using the Erie Canal.
Many people from Europe used the Erie Canal to get to Wisconsin and Illinois to farm.
It took a long time for goods to go across the Appalachian Mountains by man on horseback. It was much faster to go by barge pulled by mules on the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal paid for itself in two years and reduced the price of shipping by 90%.
The Welland Canal.