HIST 203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: West Coast Railways, Essar Steel Algoma, Rideau Canal
8 May 2017
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Document Summary
Working class history became more popular than labor history in the late 20th century. Led to a boom in the unskilled working class (navives who built the canals) Without roads, shipping was essential--> led to hydraulic power, which became very useful to industry. Along canal routes, mills and other factories developed and brought with them a skilled and unskilled working class. In the 1850s the grand trunk and the great western railways were built to extend the canal system to land and transport good for trade. Allowed relative concentration of capital which caused investors to take a chance on canada. Industrialization favored by steady supply of a labor force. From 1815 onward, many came from the british isles. In the 1870s, germans, scandinavians, and southern europeans immigrated. By the 1880s, chinese workers built the west coast railways. Also by 1880s, there were lots of italians and poles. Began around confederation but on a small scale.
