St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project: An Oral History of the Greatest Construction Show on Earth

by Claire Puccia Parham

Overview

The culmination of a century-long dream to link the Great Lakes interior industrial hubs to the Atlantic Ocean, the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project stands as one of the largest and most important public works' initiatives of the 20th century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815609131
Publisher:	Syracuse University Press
Publication date:	04/28/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Claire Puccia Parham is an instructor in the History Department at Siena College in Loudonville, New York. She is the author of From Great Wilderness to Seaway Towns: A Comparative History of Cornwall, Ontario, and Massena, New York, 1784-2001.

Interviews

This is a fascinating account of the team of 22,000 who worked on the project

Editorial Reviews

[Parham] resurrects the story of one of the greatest construction projects of the mid-twentieth century, an engineering and building feat that had nearly disappeared from memory. (Melvyn Dubofsky, Binghamton University, SUNY)

Melvyn Dubofsky

Parham chronicles the creation of an engineering wonder of the world . . . . Parham's combination of narrative and oral history vividly shows how the building of the Seaway was indeed "the greatest construction show on earth.

The Sunday Gazette

In Parham's book, several workers recount tragedies, men crushed by heavy trucks or equipment. Many worked 100 feet up on the lock or dam faces on simple wooden shairs slick with mud and rain and supported by ropes they would tie themselves. Some plunged 100 feet onto metal bars jutting up below, or into waters flowing so fast the body wouldn't turn up for a week. Workers standing in open water were electrocuted when frayed electrical lines touched down. Most took it as the norm on a major construction project.

The Montreal Gazette

The St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project was one of the greatest public works projects of the 20th century, connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean by means of seven locks that raised the level of the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Lake Ontario. After more than 50 years of negotiations, the project finally begin in 1954 and was completed in 1958, due to close cooperation between the Canadian and US governments. This major engineering feat employed 22,000 people who migrated to Massena (New York) and Cornwall (Ontario) to work on this project . . . . This work is rich with stories of life on and off the job, construction problems, esprit de corps, and the leisure time experiences of the wives. Highly recommended.

Choice

A well-crafted oral history that makes a strong contribution to filling a gap in the historiography of an important and under-examined subject." - The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

An important work that adds to the collective knowledge of one of North America's greatest international collaborative projects.

The Michigan Historical Review