The Erie Canal in New York was the first canal dug by the Irish. They did a splendid job and were hired by Mansuel White to dig the New Basin Canal in New Orleans. They were shipped in but the conditions were so bad -- no shelter. no food -- that they decided to leave. There is an article in the Times-Picayune attesting to this.
Above photo, the New Basin Canal and adjacent West End Park in 1915, viewed from Lake Pontchartrain towards the City of New Orleans, three miles to the south. Wikipedia
So then Mansuel White turned to hiring labor from overseas. He had fliers pot up all over Ireland, France and Bavaria. The first ship of laborers came from Ireland on the William and George, a ship normally used to ship coal from Belfast to New Orleans. There were a thousand people on this ship, transported in cargo. One can only imagine how filthy they looked, with coal dust all over themselves when they arrived.
Checking on what happened to these people is an eye-opener, as it was a dead end. Most cannot be found after the documentation from the shipping records from the William and George.
Next came many other ships from Ireland full of laborers, all to dig the New Basin Canal. The shipping records from New Orleans show another 700 or so from Bavaria and France all giving their occupation as farmer or laborer.
To be specific and to determine if these people were brought over to dig the Basin Canal, one would have to look at the banking records as a bank was created to fund this venture. Alas, the banking records for this particular period are lost. But the shipping records are not! New Orleans has impeccable shipping records, found on the third floor of the New Orleans Library.
The term "The Irish Channel" is slang for the New Basin Canal that was dug by the Irish and holds the remains of many who died while digging.
In my investigation, I have also found many other canals dug by the Irish filled with the remains of the workers. The Joliet Canal in Illinois is the final resting place of 200 Irish laborers. The Carolina Canal holds almost 400 dead Irish laborers.
There are also mass graves of Irish who worked on the railroad all across the plains of America.
Were they just worked to death? and no one cared? Or were they just unhealthy and starving and the hard work killed them. Keep in mind these canals were dug before The Great Famine.
A fun fact from a shipping record shows a George Gorlund, who was from Poland, and whose occupation was listed as a distiller. He was also one of the few who had "LUGGAGE."