In October of 1828, the Delaware & Hudson Canal opened for business, just a little over three years after the initial groundbreaking for the project. 

The canal would prove to be one of the most transformative projects in American history, and Sullivan County—which just happened to be in the way geographically—would be immeasurably impacted.

The E.L. Henry oil on canvas painting "On the Towpath" (1891) that helped inspire The Kate Project.

A map of the Delaware section of the D&H Canal

A section of the Kate Project trail under construction just south of Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct. The Delaware River is on the right and Route 97 is …

In the first 20 years of the canal’s operation, the population of Sullivan County more than doubled—from the 12,364 recorded in the 1830 census to 25,088 in 1850. In addition, the completion of the canal made possible the rise of the bluestone and tanning industries  here in the mid-19th century and contributed mightily to the growth of a number of communities from Barryville, NY to Phillipsport, NY.

In fact by 1870, Wurtsboro, which owed its existence almost entirely to the canal, had a population of 650, which ranked it second in the county behind Monticello (1,000). Phillipsport, with a population of 400, was sixth, and Barryville (259) ranked 11th. 

The D&H was a massive undertaking, and during its 13 years of planning and 70 years of operation spawned numerous stories, ranging from the financial risk of the Wurts brothers who conceived the idea, to the growth of the communities it created, and from the rough-and-tumble canal boat captains to the children who were indispensable to its existence.

Those children, who most often filled the role of “hoggee,” the person responsible for guiding the team of horses or mules that towed the canal boats, made possible the efficient operation of not just the D&H Canal, but the more famous Erie Canal and others as well.

No one seems quite certain of the origin of the term hoggee, but most historians say the word comes from the commands “haw” and “gee” used to get a horse or mule to stop or go. Still, there are some who insist the word is a bastardization of hogler, the old English term for a low-level laborer, while others prefer some different etymology. Whatever the origin of the term, it caught on during the early days of the Erie Canal and entered the popular lexicon through its usage in ditties of the day, supposedly sung by the boys and girls to help pass the time as they walked mile after mile hour after hour: 

“Hoggee on the towpath/Don’t know what to say/Walk behind a mule’s behind/All the live-long day.”

The fascinating but obscure story of the role that children—often as young as seven or eight years old—played in the D&H operation is one that is only recently drawing attention. The nonprofit history education group The Delaware Company, and in particular its executive director, Debra Conway, have been leading the way in telling that part of the canal’s story, and have recently taken a big step toward memorializing it. 

Partly inspired by a romanticized painting by E.L. Henry, The Kate Project is the group’s three-phase undertaking that includes construction of a half-mile extension of towpath along the Delaware River just south of Roebling’s Delaware Aqueduct, the creation of seating areas to include stone benches and interpretive signs, a canal snubbing post and a bronze sculpture of a hoggee and mule.

“The project is intended to tell the canal’s lesser-known stories, such as the bluestone industry in the river valley that utilized the canal for a time and later developed connections to Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall,” Conway explained. “And we want to especially highlight the role of the children, some of them orphans adopted out of the overcrowded foundling homes in New York City and put to work tending the mule teams that pulled the boats. These boys and girls woke up early to feed and outfit the teams, walked 18-20 miles a day alongside them, and then prepared them for ‘bed’ at the end of the day. It has been said that the mule teams were often treated better by the boat owners than the hoggees, because they were more expensive to replace.” 

Phase one of the project involved the selective clearing of a viewshed along the Delaware River and the route of the hiking path, and was completed in 2020. Phase two, which will entail all of the remaining work except for the sculpture, is now underway and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The work is now plainly visible along Route 97.

Phase three will be the procurement and placing of the bronze sculpture.

When it is completed, The Kate Project will tell yet another of those sometimes-obscure stories of the D&H Canal, one of the most significant operations in Sullivan County’s history.