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by Ken W. Watson By the mid-20th century, the hardships of building the Rideau Canal, including the location of many of the original “burying grounds,” were long forgotten. At Jones Falls, a new gravel pit was in the process of being opened up. The crews had been working in the pit for a few days, and were now making their way towards a small knoll. The front end loader was finding it easy digging in the loosely consolidated gravel, an ideal location for a gravel pit. Over a hundred years before this same loose gravel had been the ideal location for a cemetery. The work crew, concentrating on the job of loading trucks with gravel, were completely unaware of this bit of local history. As the loader dug into the bank of the knoll, Joe, one of the workers, saw something that didn’t look quite right. He motioned the loader operator to stop and approached the exposed side of the bank. He stared at it, trying to figure out what exactly he was looking at. It took him a few seconds to realize that it was a skull, starting right back at him. The loader operator later stated “Yup, Joe must have jumped three feet straight up. Then all I could see was frantic arm waving as he skedaddled out of there, yelling at me to back off. So that’s what I did.” When the loader backed up, the side of the hill collapsed and a skeleton, dressed in a blue uniform, tumbled from the grave it had been resting in. “Get the police” cried Joe and one of the men ran off, jumping into his truck and raced into Elgin to get help. By the time he returned with the authorities, the men at the site had come to realize that this was not a recent burial. In addition, while poking around, they found that they had uncovered the skeletons of at least three bodies. It didn’t take long for the local grapevine to go into high gear and soon all sorts of people were showing up. It was an old timer that solved the mystery. “This must be the old burying ground” he said. “I remember being told, when I was just a young lad, that when the Rideau Canal was being built, there was a burying ground near the Great Dam. This must be it” Exposed to sun and air, the blue uniform was starting to disintegrate. All that could be saved were the brass buttons. One of the local men, Robert McGuire, gathered up the remains of the skeleton, put it in a box and re-buried it on the site. Needless to say, the gravel pit was shut down.
Although the cemetery was originally started to inter the men who died during the construction of the locks at Jones Falls, this cemetery, like many other canal cemeteries, saw continued use until the mid 1800s. Lockmaster Peter Sweeney, in the June 26, 1846 entry in his diary, stated that “Mrs. Sergant’s child buried at the burying ground.” It was this cemetery that Sweeney was referring to. By the late 1800s, these local and family cemeteries had fallen out of use in favour of the more formalized church cemeteries. Many of these old cemeteries, such as the one at Jones Falls, were abandoned, and, over time, forgotten. That is, until the unwary gravel pit crew rediscovered the original use of this land. Many myths and misconceptions have grown over the years about death and burial during the building of the Rideau Canal. An example of this is a series of articles that appeared a couple of years ago in which, referencing the Sappers and Miners who died at Newboro, stated that they “died in such numbers that they were buried in unmarked graves beside the labourers.” What would be your guess at a number based on that statement? Dozens? Hundreds? The total number of Sappers and Miners that died during the entire construction of the Rideau Canal was 22. If we assume that about half of them died at Newboro, then “died in such numbers” equals 11. The reporter obviously didn’t do much research or fact checking.
In assessing how many were buried in these old cemeteries, we are faced with a problem that there are no firm numbers for how many died during the building of the Rideau Canal. And, even if we could count the graves in these cemeteries, since many saw continued use for upwards of 50 years after the building of the Rideau Canal, the numbers would be meaningless in terms of canal era deaths. There is no way to distinguish an 1830 grave from an 1840 grave (unless you can find some brass buttons). Today’s tendency to “pump the numbers” such as our reporter did with the exaggeration of the deaths at Newboro, is not a new phenomenon. In 1841, General Sir John Bonnycastle wrote “Then comes the dreadful swamp called Cranberry Marsh, 18 miles long and two broad, where some thousand stout labourers have met their death of regular yellow fever” [Moon, p.86]. Should we take that statement as factual truth? No — outside of the fact that the good General blamed the deaths on yellow fever (which didn’t exist on the Rideau), his number is clearly fiction, he had no idea of the real number of deaths. When we look at the context in which he wrote that statement, it was in defence of Colonel By, used as an illustration of the tremendous difficulties faced by By in the building of the canal. Bonnycastle didn’t let facts get in the way of a good bit of prose, he simply invented a nice big round number to show how much trouble By faced in completing the canal. We use that same nice big round number today as the estimate of the number of men who died during the construction of the Rideau Canal. This 1,000 number is just a very rough guess. The single largest cause of death was malaria (and complications from it and other diseases and health issues of the day). The best estimates for this are about 500 men. Dozens more would die of other diseases. Then there are accidents. For instance, we know that 5 Sappers and Miners died from blasting related accidents and one died by drowning (the remaining 16 died of sickness or have no cause given). However, there are few reports of accidents in the papers of the day. In fact, the Montreal Herald reported in its December 15, 1827 edition “The last advices from the Rideau Canal, we regret to state, mention the occurrence of a number of distressing accidents. Two labourers have been smothered by a bank of clay falling on them at Hog’s Back. … Considering, however, the extent of the works, and the dangerous nature of many of them, there have been fewer accidents since the commencement, than could have been supposed. Two have be before this killed by blasts … and one killed by a tree falling on him." [Price p.132] We also know that women and children died from disease at the canal construction sites. Deaths from malaria were almost in equal number to the men. For instance, in 1830, 27 (of 1327) men were recorded as having died at the southern lockstations (Kingston Mills to Newboro) of malaria. Those same records show that 28 women and children also died. Dr. A.J. Christie (a civilian doctor hired by Colonel By to look after the workers) reported that, between May and December 1827, 10 men died of disease (this was before malaria struck in 1828) and 7 from accidents. In that same time period, 6 women and 38 children also died. He treated 1,278 men for various ailments, mostly stomach/bowel issues. On a more positive note, he recorded 54 births that year along the canal.
So, who and how many are buried at Jones Falls? During canal construction, the crews at Jones Falls were comprised mainly of Scots and French Canadians working for contractor John Redpath. We know that in 1828, the first outbreak of malaria, that of 246 men at Jones Falls, 146 were recorded as taking sick and 2 died. No women or children are recorded as dying in that year. In 1830, we know that at least 55 men, women and children died between Kingston Mills and Newboro, presumably some at Jones Falls. Local storyteller, G. Clare Churchill, records that the sick from Jones Falls were taken to a temporary “hospital,” a log cabin located on Sand Lake Road near Bush Road (Sand Lake Road was part of the road to the quarry used to transport the stones to the lock and dam at Jones Falls) and that several of the local women looked after the sick men. Churchill states that one of the ladies, a Mrs. Baker, died of malaria. He also notes that a Mrs. John Gilpin was responsible for preparing the bodies for burial. Noted local historian, Sue Warren, points out several problems with this story, including the facts that the log cabin that Churchill refers to wasn't built until the 1840s and that Mrs. Baker was alive and kicking at the time of canal construction (she passed away in the late 1840s). Churchill's tale is referring to a later, post-canal epidemic, and, similar to several other local "histories" and anecdotal tales, got the time periods mixed up. If a "hospital" was built, it would have most likely been a log building set apart from the other buildings on the site. Such a building appears to have been erected at Newboro, away from the main construction camp. But at most of the canal construction camps, the sick simply stayed in their own beds. Did local settlers help with the sick? Perhaps, but a more likely answer is that the women located on the work sites tended to the sick. In the end, during the canal construction period, death from disease and accident resulted in perhaps several dozen burials in the cemetery at Jones Falls. From from 2,000 to 3,000 men worked each year on building the Rideau Canal. They comprised various groups; there were the Royal Sappers and Miners (162 men from the British Isles); the contractors (mostly from Canada, some U.S.), the various skilled tradesmen (carpenters, masons, smiths, coopers, etc.), comprised mostly of men from the British Isles and from Upper (Ontario) & Lower (Quebec) Canada; and the labourers, which were comprised of about 60% immigrant Irish and 40% French-Canadian.
Local farmers also took advantage of the project, with produce and meat from as far away as Brockville and Prescott shipped to Rideau construction camps. Workers with families on site built their own cabins and many were growing their own staples such as potatoes. The records for Philemon Wright show that shipments to his construction camps included flour, biscuits, potatoes, oats, fish, pork, bread, corn, bran, pease [sic], and grain. Living quarters at the work sites ranged from canvas tents to log cabins with some of the construction sites becoming small towns. For instance, at Kingston Mills, a census done in November 1830 shows 101 buildings located on the site, including three licensed public houses (O'Reilly's, Franklin's and Mahoney's), a Catholic chapel, a store, and a schoolhouse [Patterson p.38]. Most of the work sites, such as Jones Falls, were well managed, but disease remained a big problem. Poorly understood, illness cut across all social classes. Malaria was the biggest problem, it didn’t discriminate, many, from the lowliest labourer to Colonel By, contracted the disease (see John Redpath’s quote below). But there were other problems, and the apparent mortality rate from malaria is likely a result of complications from malaria and other ailments of the day. These ailments included consumption (tuberculosis), dysentery, gonorrhea, syphilis, hepatitis, opthalmia (pink eye), and phlegm (one of the four “humours” – associated with sluggishness or apathy). Bowel and stomach disorders such as constipation, diarrhea, and indigestion were common. Although “fever” is generally attributed to malaria, the outbreak in Ottawa in 1828 may have been a form of influenza rather than malaria. But in the southern Rideau, it was a temperate form of malaria, complicated by other ailments, appears to have been the main killer. The "plague" illnesses of the era, such as cholera and typhoid, were to come later, after the completion of the canal. Only a few cases of cholera were recorded by the doctors during during construction, the first major outbreak came in 1832, after the canal was completed (that outbreak originated in Quebec City). Another problem was alcoholism; there may well have been deaths from alcohol poisoning and cirrhosis of the liver given the amount of alcohol that was consumed on some of the sites. At Burritts Rapids for instance, several of the workmen were drinking over a gallon of whiskey a week. At Jones Falls, the workers had a choice of rum, whiskey, brandy or beer. Alchohol was a contributing factor in some accidents. The jury at the inquest into the death of John Rusenstrom, killed in a fall from the Hogs Back dam, found that his death was the "consequence of intoxication by Ardent Spirits" [Valentine, p.21]. Tobacco use was also very common and likely didn’t help anyone with lung issues such as tuberculosis. An additional issue was the medical care. This is an issue for two reasons; firstly the fact that there was little medical care available, with only a few doctors looking after the needs of the workers; and secondly the fact that medical "care" at the time was somewhat problematic, in many cases you were better off with no medical care. The use of bleeding and purgatives was commonly used by doctors to “cleanse the system.” Colonel By himself was bled twice as a fever “cure”. Coming back to the cemetery at Jones Falls – the majority of canal worker interred here would likely have died of disease, most resulting from complications of the previously listed variety of health issues. Malaria hit hard at this location, John MacTaggart wrote; “In the summer of 1828, the sickness in Upper Canada raged like a plague ; all along the banks of the lakes, nothing but languid fevers; and at the Rideau Canal few could work with fever and ague ; at Jones's Falls and Kingston Mills, no one was able to carry a draught of water to a friend; doctors and all were laid down together.” [MacTaggart, Vol.II, pg.21] John Redpath, the contractor at Jones Falls, in a letter written from Jones Falls is December 1831 stated that “the exceeding unhealthiness of the place from which cause all engaged in it suffered much from lake fever and fever & ague, and it has also retarded the work for about three months each year. I caught the disease both the first [1828] and second year missed the third but this year had a severe attack of Lake Fever – which kept me to bed for two months and nearly two months more before I was fit for active service as nothing can compensate for the worse of health so no inducement whatever would stimulate one to a similar undertaking.” Ironically, in 1834, Redpath brought his family to his sister’s house at Jones Falls, in order to escape the deadly cholera epidemic (which killed his wife), that was raging at that time in Montreal.
The numbers though aren’t really the story, the number of deaths was typical of such projects of the day, and the Rideau was not out of the ordinary in this regard. These old cemeteries provide a tangible link to the incredible human effort and sacrifice that went into the building of the Rideau Canal. It’s worth taking a wander in one or all of the public canal era cemeteries. 
Chaffey’s Cemetery (and Memory Wall) is located beside Brown’s Marina in Chaffeys Locks. The Old Presbyterian Cemetery is located just outside of Newboro, on County Road 42, on the west side of the bridge over the Rideau Canal, on the north side of the road (don’t be fooled by the plaque to the Sappers and Miners, located on the other side of the road, beside the wrong cemetery). McGuigan Cemetery is located at 448 River Road, directly across the river from Clowes Lock, about 0.8 km south on River Road from Upper Nicholsons lockstation. From Merrickville, follow Cty Rd. 43 east towards Kemptville and take the first turn off for Burritts Rapids, this is River Road. For more information and pictures about the various cemeteries and memorials on the Rideau, see my Memorials and Markers Page. For more information on malaria, see: Malaria Mythconceptions and Malaria on the Rideau Sources: Churchill, G. Clare, Rideau Reflections, 1000 Island Publisher, abt. 1992. MacTaggart, John, Three Years In Canada, two volumes, London, 1829. McCord Museum, Montreal - Redpath papers, P085 and Garneau Papers, 20145-20175. Moon, Robert (Editor), Colonel By’s Friends Stood Up, Crocus House, Ottawa, 1979 Patterson, William J., Lilacs and Limestone, An Illustrated History of Pittsburgh Township, 1787-1987, Pittsburgh Historical Society, 1989 Price, Karen, "Construction History of the Rideau Canal," Manuscript Report 193, Parks Canada, Ottawa, 1976. Stanzell, John “Royal Sappers and Miners: Builders of the Rideau Canal 1826-1831” Ontario Genealogical Society, Ottawa Branch News, V.40, No.4, pp 199-200, August-October 2007 Valentine, Jaime, Supplying the Rideau: Workers, Provisions and Health Care During the Construction of the Rideau Canal, 1826-1832, Microfiche Report Series 249, Parks Canada, 1985 Warren, Sue, per comm, 2008
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