The New Basin Canal Memorial Monument

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In 1830, American businessmen in New Orleans decided to build a shipping channel from Lake Pontchartrain to the American sector of the city to compete with the established Carondelet Canal in the French section. Construction of the New Basin Canal began in 1832 with a work force consisting almost entirely of Irish immigrants. (Newly arrived and desperate for jobs, these were the men who would work for the least amount of pay.)

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The work was back-breaking, the hours long and, because of the canal's path through the swamp, yellow fever, cholera, malaria and other diseases were rampant among the laborers. The pay was one dollar a day. By the time the canal was finished six years later, betwen 8,000 - 20,000 Irish immigrants had died in the effort. (The exact figure will never be known because no records were kept, but some have estimated the toll may have been as high as 30,000.)

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The men worked when they were sick, fearing the loss of the job if they missed a day. For this reason, many of the deaths occurred at the work site. They fell where they worked and, usually, the bodies were left there - just pushed to the side and buried in the canal's levee or in the roadway fill next to it. No family member to whisper goodbyes, no priests to offer prayers and no marker to indicate that a life had ever been lived.

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