It’s 189-miles long, harnessed the power of water before Niagara and is located a scant few hundred miles to the north, but few Americans have even heard of it.
Local author Claire Puccia Parham wants to change that with her upcoming book, St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project: An Oral History of the Greatest Construction Show on Earth, in which she casts light on an obscure but fascinating facet of history through personal accounts of the workers who were there to build it, over 50 years ago.
`This was an uphill battle, to say the least, because people know nothing about the St. Lawrence Seaway project,` said Parham. `A lot of publishers didn’t believe that it was worth writing [about].`
Opened in 1959, the seaway connects the great lakes with the Atlantic Ocean in a joint endeavor between Canada and the U.S. Since then, it has seen the transport of 2.3 billion tons of cargo and produces hydroelectric power for both countries.
Parham is a decade-long resident of Clifton Park, where she and her husband, Edward Parham, live with their two children, ages 6 and 8. She teaches in the history department of Siena College, focusing on American and 20th century history. The job leaves her time to pursue other interests, including writing.
Her first book, `From Great Wilderness to Seaway Towns,` detailed the comparative histories of Cornwall, Ontario and Massena, New York, and included a mention of the St. Lawrence Seaway Project. When her interest in the subject was later quoted, she said, Parham was contacted by many workers on the project and their families, leading to the interviews that make up the book.
`The book is less for me and more for them,` said Parham. `The majority of it is their words.`
In her book, she tells the stories of some of the 22,000 people who worked on the construction of the seaway, some of which involved the dozens of deaths that came from such dangers as falls from heights, electrocutions and equipment malfunctions.
Parham became interested in the project during her time at St. Lawrence University, where there exists an archive of information on the project. She spoke to some workers then, but was told the topic wasn’t analytical enough for her dissertation at Binghamton University so the project was put on the back burner for 20 years.
Parham’s book is the only recent account of the project, she said, mostly because most people take it for granted.
`No one else has attempted to write anything on it, because it’s something that functions is obscurity, it does what it’s supposed to do,` she said. `Most people don’t consider where their power comes from or how something they buy at the store gets there.`
An official 50th anniversary celebration will take place in July, but there is already talk about how the seaway ` largely unchanged since its opening ` can be improved to allow more ships through. A dredging is also on the horizon.
`The St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project` will be on bookshelves everywhere April 1, and is available for preorder through national booksellers and the publisher’s Web site: www.syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu. (ISBN: 978-0-8156-0913-1) Parham hopes to make local appearances at libraries and bookstores after its release.“