Westward Cork Migration by Sail 1815-1860 by John Sutton

PART II EMIGRANT PERSPECTIVE

instigated the Tory mob to burn down Parliament in 1849 because of their ‘loyalist’ (and anti- ‘responsible government’) view for the Crown, was by then the Prime Minister and he reputedly warmly congratulated Elgin on retirement. McNab had converted to the principle of ‘responsible government’. Whether embracing that viewpoint improved attitudes towards individual rights or reduced the bigotry in BNA was a moot point for Irish emigrants; they were now heading to the United States. 1855. The Great Western Railway (BNA, US). Linked Detroit (USA) and Windsor (BNA) to Hamilton, Toronto and Niagara district, enhancing travel within Western Canada and to Michigan (see Fig. 15). 1855. Lake Superior, and the opening of the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie. Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes, drains via the St. Mary’s River into Lake Huron. The river’s mile-long Sault Ste Marie Rapids, dropping the water level more than 20 feet, impeded navigation, necessitated portage, disrupted Lake Superior trade, and discouraged European settlement. Canoe portages were natural meeting places for indigenous people on their travels, and the St Mary’s rapids was one such long-established gathering site. The French built fur-trading posts on Superior’s shores in the 1600s, and between 1768 and 1804 the North West Fur Company of Montreal, officially organized in 1779 , had headquarters until 1804 on the northwest shore at Grand Portage, proximate to Pigeon River in the Hudson Bay watershed, before national border delineation precipitated a removal to Fort William on Thunder Bay. North West built a 38-foot navigation lock system in 1797 on the St Mary River below Lake Superior’s southeast shore, which enabled canoes and wooden batteaux bypass the rapids between Lakes Superior and Huron. Those locks were destroyed during the War of 1812 . Interest in inter-lake commerce lapsed until large copper and iron deposits were discovered off the southwest shore of Lake Superior inspiring Congress to pass an 1852 Act, to enable direct shipment of heavy ore-laden vessels to the ironworks of Detroit and Cleveland. The Soo Locks, a 1.6-mile-long canal system around the rapids at Sault Ste. Marie, was completed 18 June 1855 , and the brig Columbia became the first ship to carry iron ore through the canal from Lake Superior to Lake Huron on 17 August 1855 (Jepson, 2023). Lake Superior ports, such as Marquette and L’Anse Michigan, Duluth and Two Harbors Minnesota, Superior and Ashland Wisconsin; and Thunder Bay Ontario, at last had direct access to the other Great Lakes. One hundred and four years later, on 4 May 1959 , the author’s grandfather, Lt Colonel Walter Patrick O’Connor, was manager of a Liverpool shipping company when their vessel, the Ramon de Larrinaga, became the first large “saltie” to arrive at Duluth after construction of the St Lawrence Seaway, to the welcome of horns and fire hoses; after which Captain Meade accepted the Key of the City from Mayor Clifford Mork (Duluth News-Tribune). 1855. The Economy (US). The Davis Index was stable for 1854, and the Great Famine over. Yet US immigration from the UK declined by 39.4% in 1855 and from Germany by 66.6% (Cohn, 2009, 80). BNA emigration from Great Britain and Ireland dropped to about 20,000 after hovering around 40,000 for the early 1850s. Meanwhile, the Crimean War held world attention. 1856. The loss of the Cork Emigrant Sailing Ship Pallas (BNA) . The Pallas , a Cork maritime fixture since the 1820s, was wrecked en route to Quebec in the Gulf of St Lawrence with the loss of 82 lives (see Part l). 1857. Economic Downturn (US). The Panic of 1857 was associated with overextended banks, failure of a New York bank on 24 August 1857 and an economic depression. The Davis Index declined 5.9%. US immigration from the UK declined 50.5% and from the German states 50.6% (Cohn, 2009, 80). BNA emigration from Britain and Ireland dropped to

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