Fifteen Years on the Erie Canal

Mohawk River, Iroquois, the United States of America

August 12th, 1797

"You heard? They passed that natural thing in Congress."

Conor Murphy rolled his eyes, "Naturalization, Jack. They're allowing immigrants to naturalize now."

The two Irish immigrants were working on the Erie Canal on the Mohawk River. They were within the borders of the state of Iroquois, which was not entirely friendly with "outsiders" but allowed them to remain within the state as long as they worked on the canal. Conor had to admit the state had some pretty lovely views of the wilderness. Most of the Native Americans of the state still lived in small, communal villages and towns while the only big "city" was Onondaga, which was the state capital. As such, the state felt much emptier and... wild. Conor stopped for a moment to take a deep breath of fresh air as he adjusted his "hard hat" (an iron hat with some padding inside) to shield his eyes from the sun.

"What does naturalization mean, Conor?" Jack O'Brien asked as he swept his shovel into the dirt. There was plenty of work to be done, and with Congress throwing money behind the project, there were plenty of profits to be made as well. They got paid a Quarter per hour, and if they worked more than eight hours in a day, their wages doubled for the extra hours they worked. The government called it "overtime pay," but Jack and Conor saw it as "more money for more effort." Sure, the United States was a bit weird, and the two of them were still adjusting to their life here. But the pay was honest and always on time. And the government hired anyone that was willing to work. They didn't judge people by race or religion, which helped the two Irishmen since they were Catholic. All they had to do was to work hard and follow American laws, and they were set to have a steady job with good pay and benefits.

"It means they'll let us be citizens if we live here long enough and behave ourselves."

"Don't they have some kinda test?"

"It's just some of that American history, government, and law stuff. Nothing too difficult for literate lads like us." Conor replied with a shrug. Another benefit they received for working on the canal was school lessons. Some teachers from the government came out to help teach the workers to learn to read and write while also teaching them valuable things like math, science, and history. That was all for free as well, and a lot of immigrants took up the offer to make their stay here permanent. Conor and Jack weren't any different from the others, they joined in on the lessons with their fellow workers. They had been working here for a year now, and Conor was sure that he and his partner were "above average" in terms of education.

Jack smiled, "I think I'm gonna take that test and live here. It ain't so bad in America, no matter what some of them people back in Britain say. The folks here are nice, the pay is good, and I heard they gonna offer some land to us out west after this canal is done. Ain't that a dream?"

"Sure is. Gonna see if I can get ma and pa here. I'm sending them money every month so they can save up and move here. There are a lot of Irish folks in New York City, so I think they'll fit right in. Connie needs schooling as well; her twelfth birthday was just last month. She ain't gonna be digging trenches like me, so she should probably get schooling and go to those universities here. She's a bright girl, so I'm sure she'll do fine."

"Oh, they accept women. It always slipped my mind," Jack shook his head, "I don't know about that Conor. Do you think they should be receiving an education?"

"Well they can do a bunch of stuff here that women in Europe can't, so why the heck not? And this nation ain't like any other. They let Negros go to those national schools. They let Indians guard their "National Parks" or whatever the hell that is. And they let women vote. Women going to school ain't that hard to accept once you realize all the other weird things happening in this country. Besides, Connie can get schooling here for free and that's too good of a chance to pass up for her."

"You really love your sister, don't ya Conor."

"Of course I do you spud, now let's keep on working and make more coins."

The two worked silently for an hour or so until the supervisor (who was a tall, Native American with traditional clothing and a cap with a feather on it) called a few of the workers over. Conor noticed that most of the group were Irishmen like himself while a few unfamiliar "Asian" men stood by and watched their pale-skinned counterparts with interest. The supervisor spoke English clearly with a slight accent, "Alright listen here! We've just hired more laborers for the canal. Most of the new recruits are Chinese or Korean. Almost none of them can speak English, but it will be your duties to help them learn English and teach them what to do. I will help as much as I can, but I will need all of you to assist me. There are four Chinese and Korean men that can speak English, so you will relay commands to them while helping the others learn as much English as possible. For this extra duty, the government will pay you an additional quarter per hour, with the overtime benefit adjusted to match your new earnings.

Excited whispers and murmurs broke out between the Irishmen. Fifty cents an hour! And a dollar for every hour they worked after the eight-hour quota. Conor could almost envision buying land or even starting up a business with that kind of money. All the Irish workers accepted, and they were paired off with an Asian worker. Conor had to separate from Jack for a while, but he wasn't worried. They were still going to eat lunch together anyways (and even if he was wary of the Indians, they made some mighty fine smoked meat).

Conor was paired off with an Asian man named "Meng Tengfei." He had an awful time pronouncing that name but settled on the name "Meng" with the Asian man's approval. Surprisingly, the man spoke bits and pieces of English, enough to communicate somewhat.

"You from Korea?" The Irish worker asked curiously.

Meng opened his mouth and shook his head, "No! China. Everybody ask, "You from Korea?" And no, I am from China."

"Oh," Conor replied. Guess it was a touchy subject for the Asian man. In Conor's defense, he learned about that lad named "Samuel Kim" from his history lessons, and he was worshiped by many Americans. Helping the poor, starting businesses, giving excellent pay to his workers, serving as the first president, and defeating the damn Brits in battle (that was definitely a plus in his book). It seemed like that man could do it all, and it was emphasized that he was Korean. In this country, he was basically as popular as the Pope was with Catholics. With that in mind, he assumed that almost all Asians were Koreans (and, after all, he had never met an Asian before coming to the United States). He realized that it was as if someone asked Conor if he was Scottish instead of Irish. Somewhat close, but enough to irritate him."Sorry."

"No, no. It's ok. You from where?"

"Ireland, part of Great Britain. You know, that powerful country in Europe?" Regardless of his thoughts about Great Britain, it was still one of the biggest and strongest powers in the world.

"Britain?" Meng asked with a confused expression on his face, "Where that?"

"Oh you never heard about Britain? Well, it's very far from here and very very far from China."

Meng called over a translator to translate Conor's words to him. Conor frowned when he discovered the Chinese translator's name was "Lei Fengfang." Did the Chinese just purposely come up with difficult names to pronounce?

"Ah, I see." His Chinese companion replied as he received the translation, "Meiguo very far from home. I from Guangxi, south China."

"Oh, I'm from Munster in southern Ireland."

And the two started an awkward, but interesting friendship.