The First Hydroelectric Projects and the Forgotten Workers Who Built Them

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Title

The First Hydroelectric Projects and the Forgotten Workers Who Built Them

Description

Hydroelectric power development profoundly altered the Niagara region at the turn of the century, creating thousands of jobs, attracting new industries to the area while improving its economic, political, and social development. By 1901 it was announced that work had finally begun on the first major hydro project on the Canadian side of the river by the Canadian Niagara Power Company, and by 1903, there were three major hydro developments under construction.

Although the engineering genius and unbelievable scale of these projects were heard around the world, the workers who built them and the considerable human cost of these developments have long been forgotten. From alienation to racism to unavoidable sacrifice for the sake of progress, foreign workers of these power developments paid the highest price for Niagara’s industrial, economic, and social success.

list of authors

Emily Haus

Publisher

Brock University

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