Salaries
|
Laborers |
Contractors |
Engineers |
Commissioners |
|
$8 to $12 a day |
Earth: $.10 to $.14 per cubic yard |
Principle: $1,500 to $2,000 per year |
1819: $2,500 per year |
|
$.50 per day |
Rock: $.75 to $2.00 per cubic yard |
Assistant: $4.00 per day |
1820: $2,000 per year |
Source: Erie Water West, pg. 91
The contractors were paid accordingly to how difficult the excavation of the land was. The commissioners dropped their salary to $2,000 a year in 1820. Any thing more than that and the commissioners felt that the undereducated would feel that the commissioners were " aggrandizing themselves on the canal funds".