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241:. The article included lyrics from a popular song that mentioned 10,000 Irish laborers dying from cholera during the canal's construction. Over the years, press reports rose to as high as 20,000 before dropping to the commonly heard 8,000 deaths. Contemporary press reports focused more on labor unrest when Irish workers recruited from Philadelphia went on strike to protest the canal's owner's failure to pay them according to the contracts, not worker deaths.
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an expense of $ 1 million, the 60-foot (18 m) wide 3.17-mile (5.10 km) long canal was complete enough to be opened to small vessels drawing 6 feet (1.8 m), with $ 0.375 per ton charged for passage. Over the next decade the canal was enlarged to 12 feet (3.7 m) deep, 100 feet (30 m) wide, and with shell roads alongside.
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immigrant laborers. The Irish workers died in great numbers, but the
Company had no trouble finding more men to take their place, as shiploads of poor Irishmen arrived in New Orleans. Many were willing to risk their lives in hazardous, back-breaking work for a chance to earn $ 1 a day. By 1838, after
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or more commonly New Basin Canal
Lighthouse was built on the far end of one of the jetties at the entrance to the canal. Starting from the entrance of the canal, it headed south through the swamp, cut through the high ground of Metairie Ridge, through the mid-city lowlands, into the city, ended in a
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the following decade. The stretch from the
Interstate to just shy of Robert E. Lee Blvd was developed into the present-day New Basin Canal Park, a linear green space paralleling West End Boulevard. On November 4, 1990, the Irish Cultural Society of New Orleans dedicated a large
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and roadway-fill beside the canal. Contemporary immigration records and other primary documents do not support a level of Irish population in the city sufficient to support the upper-end of the estimated deaths, and historian Laura D. Kelley, in her 2014 book
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No official count was kept of the deaths of the immigrant workers; estimates ranging from 500 to 20,000 and more have been published, with 8,000 being a commonly cited total. Many were buried without a grave marker in the
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epidemics in the early 1830s were later remembered as being suffered during the canal's construction. While it is certain workers died constructing the canal, the first claim of 10,000 deaths did not come until 1937 in a
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The canal originally joined with Lake
Pontchartrain around the present day intersection of Robert E. Lee and West End Boulevards, but jetties were added on both sides extending it farther into the lake. The
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to repair the damaged lighthouse. It was disassembled and the building was put into storage. Reconstruction of the lighthouse began in
February 2012 and was completed in 2013.
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Dupont, Nancy McKenzie (2021). "The Story
Without a Source: A Tale of Irish Death in New Orleans". In van Tuyll, Debra Reddin; O'Brien, Mark; Broersma, Marcel (eds.).
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The canal was commercially important through the 19th century, and served additional uses such as improving drainage in nearby areas and being used to harvest the
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The New Basin Canal and adjacent West End Park in 1915, viewed from Lake
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Small pleasure boats now moor on the only remaining portion of the canal that was important to regional commerce in the 19th century
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neighborhood. They were brought into the city near the River, via the canal, and used to build many uptown houses.
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The New Basin Canal was constructed by the New
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in New Basin Canal Park to commemorate all of the Irish workers who perished constructing the canal.
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was filled in, but the rest of the length continued functioning on a more limited scale until after
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passed a state constitutional amendment to close the canal. In 1937–38 the area back to
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New Canal
Lighthouse - Collapse after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita - 2005
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New Canal
Lighthouse - Damage after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita - 2005
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or "American" section of the city, to compete with the existing
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ravaged workers in the swamp in back of town, and the loss of
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which stands at the entrance to the canal, was added to the
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Politics, Culture, and the Irish American Press: 1784–1963
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was judged too expensive; so most of the work was done by
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174:. The intent was to build a shipping canal from
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284:The importance of the canal declined after
676:"US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990"
311:in the 1950s, which was incorporated into
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362:Basin Foundation signed a lease with the
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
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354:. The first floor had collapsed and its
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333:National Register of Historic Places
47:adding citations to reliable sources
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200:Work commenced the following year.
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434:New Basin Canal Aerial View - 1948
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16:Canal in Louisiana, United States
770:1838 establishments in Louisiana
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358:had fallen off. In 2006, the
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650:MacCash, Doug (2020-03-16).
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680:United States Census Bureau
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470:New Canal Lighthouse - 2013
294:Louisiana State Legislature
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570:Kelley, Laura D. (2014).
417:(30.026944, -90.113056).
364:United States Coast Guard
277:trees in what is now the
703:Help Save the Lighthouse
573:The Irish in New Orleans
309:Pontchartrain Expressway
224:The Irish in New Orleans
482:Drainage in New Orleans
760:History of New Orleans
546:"Irish in New Orleans"
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765:Canals opened in 1838
755:Canals in New Orleans
726:29.95778°N 90.09444°W
497:West End, New Orleans
487:Lakeview, New Orleans
405:30.02694°N 90.11306°W
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341:2005 hurricane season
292:in 1923. In 1936 the
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524:www.irishcentral.com
518:Mary Helen Lagasse.
492:New Canal Lighthouse
384:New Canal Lighthouse
337:New Canal Lighthouse
255:New Canal Lighthouse
182:land to the booming
135:, also known as the
126:New Canal Lighthouse
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410:30.02694; -90.11306
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360:Lake Pontchartrain
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684:. Retrieved
682:. 2011-02-12
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41:Please help
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750:Ship canals
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638:Dupont 2021
626:Dupont 2021
550:64 Parishes
529:November 8,
408: /
286:World War I
237:article by
152:New Orleans
744:Categories
717:90°05′40″W
714:29°57′28″N
686:2011-04-23
661:2022-11-08
556:2022-11-08
503:References
345:Hurricanes
329:lighthouse
172:US dollars
69:newspapers
396:90°6′47″W
393:30°1′37″N
378:Geography
156:Louisiana
137:New Canal
656:NOLA.com
476:See also
318:Kilkenny
279:Lakeview
192:downtown
145:shipping
143:, was a
139:and the
99:May 2021
421:Gallery
348:Katrina
320:marble
228:cholera
190:in the
168:capital
162:History
83:scholar
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356:cupola
206:slaves
195:Creole
184:uptown
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219:levee
210:Irish
180:swamp
148:canal
90:JSTOR
76:books
607:ISBN
578:ISBN
531:2022
382:The
352:Rita
350:and
327:The
313:I-10
131:The
62:news
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