through New York's port. The canal's construction laborers themselves were largely immigrants who stayed and settled in the area after the construction was completed. In 1861, the canal transported 1000 soldiers of the 114th Regiment from Norwich to Utica, in a flotilla of 10 packet boats. This was the first leg of their journey southward to serve in the Union Army during the war. Each town through which they passed met them with flags, fanfare and patriotic fervor. A watercolor painting celebrating that event hangs today in the Chenango Museum in Norwich. The canal itself was also utilized for recreation. In the summer months it supported swimming, boating and fishing. In the winter months, after the surface froze over, ice skating and even horse racing became favorite pastimes. Before the Chenango Canal was built, much of the Southern Tier and Central New York was still considered to be frontier. The people there lived as pioneers everywhere lived, a rugged and rustic existence, without the prosperity and possessions enjoyed by much of the rest of the state. The people petitioned for a canal corridor so that they could benefit from such things as efficient clean-burning coal, which had to be shipped from Pennsylvania. Previously people had heated only with wood. After the Chenango, trade increased between New York City, Albany and the Southern Tier. Merchants could market heavier items such as manufactured furniture and the coveted coal-burning stoves. With the canal's opening, living standards would generally improve. The canal was also a source of local employment. It is believed that Phillip Armour, the millionaire meat packer from Madison County, had first worked as a mule driver walking the Chenango Canal. The countless miles must have built his legs and tenacity, for he eventually quit and walked across the United States. He went to work the gold fields of California. He gradually earned a fortune and ultimately became a shipping magnate- the system he probably learned from his experience on the Chenango. Another driver was Nuel Stever. He was a veteran canal boatman who in 1927, at the age of 76, spoke of his colorful memories living on a Chenango Canal packet boat. His interview was published in The Norwich Sun: When I was five, I began driving canal boat teams on the towpath pulling the boats. Such work was common to boys of that age. I can remember driving a team