Why did so many Irish follow Canadian inland waterways to the USA?

Before the large scale railway building of the 1850’s, Quebec City was one of North America’s most important ports. Geography had placed Quebec City nearer to Liverpool, the major European port, than was New York. For immigrants, the timber trade made a passage to Canada cheaper than a passage to the United States. In addition, Quebec City was located on the largest river on the eastern seaboard, the St. Lawrence. Canal building in the 1840’s made it possible to travel by steamboat up the St. Lawrence to the Ottawa River, Lake Ontario, and to Lake Erie.


Many immigrants used the inland waterways to go to these growing areas in Canada and the United States. Bytown (Ottawa), Kingston, Toronto, Buffalo NY, Cleveland, and Toledo in Ohio were all accessible by steamboat from Quebec City.


In 1847, many immigrants died on their journey from Quebec City to these other parts of North America. The people were weakened by the Famine, by weeks at sea, and by the conditions on the journey upriver. While many died because their earlier experiences had weakened them, the upriver journey exposed them to the unusually hot summer weather, often in open barges. Some commentators of the time accused Canadian companies of overloading the barges and steamboats. Some even refused to allow the migrants to exercise on their way upriver. Obviously, the more the steamboats carried, and the quicker the journey, the more money was made. On the other hand, sheer numbers overwhelmed the inland steamboat system, and the immigrants themselves wanted to reach a destination as quickly as possible.


Today, sad memorials to 1847 line the inland waterways, reminding us that more people died on these waterways than died crossing the Atlantic. Yet, the coffin ships of the Atlantic are remembered much more in folk memory than the fever hospitals that once lined the inland route to the heart of North America.

Can you spot the following on the print about the Port of Quebec shown above?

1. Timber raft

Timber was Canada’s biggest export industry employing thousands of people. Raftsmen brought timber from the Ottawa Valley, the Great Lakes, and from Lake Champlain to Quebec City. The rafts were organized and stored then exported mainly to Britain. Approximately 18,000 sailors operated a massive fleet of 1,200 ships to Liverpool and other parts of the British Isles including Ireland.

2. Barges

Immigrants were often towed in Durham boats upriver by steamboats. They were packed in, and the hot summer sun made this part of the journey lethal for many. It was extremely unpleasant, and many recorded that this was the worst part of their journey.

3. Steamboats

While Quebec City and Montreal built mainly sailing ships to be sold in Europe, steamboats were an important part of shipbuilding in Quebec. Molson’s Accommodation was the first steamboat built in North America using local as opposed to imported engines from Britain. In the 1820’s, the Hercules was the world’s first steam tugboat and was used to haul sailing ships into Montreal Harbour. In the 1830’s, Quebec built the Royal William, the first ship to cross the Atlantic largely by steam. By the 1840’s, it was claimed that there were more steamboats on the St. Lawrence River than on the Mississippi.


The steamboat service was incredibly efficient and competitive. People could mail letters and have them delivered in towns along the river the very next day. The steamboats used to race to become the fastest ship on the river, and several blew up killing hundreds of immigrants (though not in 1847). The railways reduced the number of steamboats, and the rise of iron built ships ended Quebec’s years as a major shipbuilding center.