Spirit of the Big Ditch: The Story of the Welland Canals in Pictures, Poems and Songs

"Spirit of the Big Ditch" is an anthology of poems, songs, and illustrations commemorating the 200th anniversary of the start of construction of the first Welland Canal, William Hamilton Merritt's 'big ditch.' In this book, 45 poems and songs, and 73 full colour artwork reproductions, photographs, and illustrations, tell the story of the 4 Welland canals. In addition, Prof. Robert Ratcliffe Taylor provides context to the poems, songs, and artworks with his interpretive narrative. Scanning the QR code beside each poem and song takes you to a recording of the poem or song, whether it be performed in a YouTube video, sung on Spotify, or performed on the companion website developed especially for this book. The book is divided into 9 sections, each with a common theme, such as the building of the canal, working on the canals working on the boats that traverse the canal, and the lives lost through working on the canals, to the collision of a boat which rammed one of the lock gates flooding the canal banks and drowning three young boys in the process. "Spirit of the Big Ditch" provides a unique viewpoint of the engineering marvel, the triumph and the tragedy, of the Welland Canals.