Erie Canal

Description

A historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie.

Before railroads, water transport was the most efficient way to move bulk goods. In early America, transporting goods inland from coastal ports was challenging, as the Appalachian Mountains posed significant barriers to travel and settlement. Rivers offered easy passage, but beyond the fall line, overland travel was slow and arduous, with journeys taking weeks due to the rough condition of roads.

DeWitt Clinton shepherded the completion of the Erie Canal for $7 million, the canal was 363 miles in length including 565 miles of changing elevation. It lowered the cost of shipping made trade easier. It was the first from east to west transportation route in the country allowing the agricultural products of reducing cost of transport by 90%... enabling agriculture products to reach the sea making New York a major commercial port.

Proposed, Mar 21, 1791

From 1699 multiple suggestions and proposals were made for canals and for improving water way navigation across the east coast. An act for improving the navigation of the Mohawk River, Wood Creek, and the Onondaga river, with a view to opening an inland navigation to Oswego and Lake Erie. The Bill was defeated in 1786. Finally an act authorizing survey and estimates for Mohawk and Hudson rivers and Wood Creek was passed on March 21, 1791.

In 1792, an act was passed in March to establish lock navigation, followed by the incorporation of the Western and Northern Inland Lock Navigation Companies to connect Albany to Lakes Seneca, Ontario, and Champlain. The first U.S. locks were constructed by a private firm to bypass Little Falls, marking a milestone in American infrastructure. The first report comes in February 1811.

Written, Feb 16, 1816

De Witt Clinton visits the Canal in Buffalo and publishes the ‘Memorial of the Citizens of New York, in Favour of a Canal Navigation between the Great Western Lakes and the Tide-waters of the Hudson’ which is signed by many citizens, it made a deep impression on the Legislature. Later that year NY Legislature passes a canal law on April 17, by which funds were provided for the construction of a canal

Construction Started, July 4, 1817

At Rome, NY. Next year, a southern route is proposed for the Canal. The canal was opened for traffic in but little more than eight years.

Opened, Oct 26, 1825

The first passage through Canal from Lake Erie to New York City.

Expanded, Nov 3, 1903

A majority of New Yorkers authorized an expansion of the canal at a cost of $101,000,000.

Factoids

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Apr 15, 1817- NY State Legislature passed a bill funding the Erie Canal

1825 -The Chamber of Commerce proposed the Erie Canal, the success of which made New York the link between the new western economy and the maritime ports of the east and abroad. This was the single most important factor in making New York the preeminent commercial and financial center it is today.

Feb 5, 1797 -A Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation published by Fulton in 1796. A year later, on this day he wrote a letter from Fulton to President Washington referring to potential canal improvements, including a canal to Lake Erie.

Related People & Organizations

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Cadwallader David Colden,In 1825, Colden, a strong advocate for a national canal system, was tasked by the Common Council of New York City to write a detailed memoir during the concluding stages of the Erie Canal's construction. His work, titled "Memoir, Prepared at the Request of a Committee of the Common Council of the City of New York, and Presented to the Mayor of the City, at the Celebration of the Completion of the New York Canals," includes contemporary lithographs depicting the canal's construction and notable moments from New York City's "Grand Canal Celebration."

DeWitt Clinton

Christopher Colles,An inventor credited with being one of the first to conceive a waterway to the West.

Related Sites

Wedding of the Waters

Keg poured in the Wedding of the Waters

Timeline

1791

1825+ 1

1825 - Opened

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Plaque Commemorating Opening of Ohio and Erie Canal

Library of Congress

Little Falls

Library of Congress

Utica NY

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Erie Canal & Mohawk Valley, Utica, N.Y 1900

Library of Congress

Salina Street, Syracuse, N.Y. 1904

Library of Congress

New York

Library of Congress

Erie Canal Locks, Ilion, Herkimer County, NY

Library of Congress

Erie Canal lock

Library of Congress

Little Falls

Library of Congress

Lock eleven

Library of Congress

Rochester, N.Y.

Library of Congress

Genesee, Rochester, N.Y.

Library of Congress

Rochester, N.Y.

Library of Congress

Tonawanda, N.Y.

Library of Congress

Lock Eleven on the Erie Canal at Amsterdam, NY

Library of Congress

Salina Street, Syracuse

Library of Congress

1825 - Opened - Drawings and documents

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The first boat on the Erie Canal [Gov. DeWitt Clinton and guests]

Library of Congress

1825

DeWitt Clinton [mingling the waters of Lake Erie with the Atlantic]

New York Public Library

1836

Buffalo, from Lake Erie

New York Public Library

1791 - Proposed

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1791 - Proposed - Drawings and documents

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1797

Robert Fulton to George Washington

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Events and Stories

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Wedding of the Waters

New York

Celebration, Infrastructure

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