This was a machine that built the canal.
The Beginning
Through history, water has been the best way to travel. From 1673 on, different people(explorers, politicians, investors, travelers, and famers alike) , including Louis Jolliet saw what advantages of building a canal near Chicago that would link Lake Michigan with the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, this would provide a water passage all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1825, when the Erie Canal was opened as a link between the Great Lakes and Eastern Seaboard, the proposed canal gained determination of building it because its construction would provide a water highway from New York to New Orleans.
Transportation
When transportation was lacking in Illinois, the canal commission decided to build a canal. That canal was the I&M Canal.
Jobs
Irish, German, Swedish, and other immigrants came to Illinois because there was a promise of jobs. They were afraid of getting malaria. They argued to be payed a gill of whiskey because they thought whiskey would protect them from the disease. They were payed a gill of whiskey and a dollar a week.