Today the canal is generally used as a recreational waterway, and the State of New York is actively engaged in promoting the Erie Canal as a tourist destination. For webquest or practice, print a copy of this quiz at the Erie Canal webquest print page. The Erie Canal opened today (5/15/2018), marking the 194th canal season since its auspicious opening in 1825 in New York. President Thomas Jefferson declared the idea "little short of madness", New York was never to be the same, and many of the famous cities of upstate New York exist for the simple reason they were begun along the route of the Canal. The Erie Canal soon began to change everything in America. The Erie Canal for kids: Background History The Residents of New York first started to discuss the possibility of building a canal that linked the Atlantic coast and New York to the Great Lakes in the late 1700's. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The Erie Canal was a 363-mile canal that connected the Atlantic Ocean, via the Hudson River in eastern New York, with Lake Erie. Take this quiz. The staircaselike locks were followed by a 5-km- (3-mile-) long, 9-metre- (30-foot-) deep cut blasted into the rocky plateau. About this quiz: All the questions on this quiz are based on information that can be found on the page at Erie Canal. Goods from the west could be taken across the Great Lakes to Buffalo, then on the canal to Albany and New York City, and conceivably even to Europe. Fifteen miles was the common distance a mule or horse would work before resting. In particular, DeWitt Clinton had promoted the idea of a western canal as early as 1811 while serving in the New York state senate. Back then, the latest development in transportation was the Erie Canal. It connected Akron with the Cuyahoga River near its outlet on Lake Erie in Cleveland, and a few years later, with the Ohio River near Portsmouth. https://www.thoughtco.com/building-the-erie-canal-1773705 (accessed January 24, 2021). And many towns and cities sprang up along the canal, including Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo. A massive fleet of boats assembled in New York harbor, and as the city celebrated, Clinton took a cask of water from Lake Erie and poured it into the Atlantic Ocean. Many Americans who wanted to settle on the frontier used the canal as a highway westward. The laborers were mostly newly arrived immigrants from Ireland, and most of the work would be done with picks and shovels. And while Washington's canal was a failure, citizens of New York thought they might be able to construct a canal that would reach hundreds of miles westward. The original 13 states were arranged along the Atlantic coast, and there was a fear that other nations, such as Britain or France, would be able to claim much of the interior of North America. But things were very different in the early 1800s. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/building-the-erie-canal-1773705. The plans for building the canal were delayed by the War of 1812. Diggin’ the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal Today By the late-1800s canals were overtaken by railroads as the most important form of transportation. Omissions? Lake Erie is 571 feet higher than the level of the Hudson River; locks were built to overcome that difference. Clinton, who had been involved in national politics, he had nearly beaten James Madison in the 1812 presidential election, was an energetic mayor of New York City. With nature presenting more daunting obstacles on both the western and eastern sections, construction began in the middle segment on July 4, 1817, with Clinton officiating the groundbreaking at Rome, New York. Primary Source References. 1807 December 10. It has been enlarged several times to accommodate larger boats and became part of the New York State Canal System in 1918. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Southerners had been moving up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers into southern Ohio and southern Indiana, which did become sympathetic to slavery, according to Jack Kelly, author of the new book Heavens Ditch: God, Gold and Murder on the Erie Canal. The Erie required 83 locks, each made of stone, to move boats up and down the natural elevations. Beginning in the 1780s, various plans were proposed to improve navigation on the Mohawk River. Construction began in 1817 and was completed in 1825. McNamara, Robert. The time to ship goods from Buffalo to New York was shortened from twenty days to six; and the cost per ton reduced from $1… The locks were designed so that each needed only one person for its operation. A dip in a city street is one of the last reminders of a canal that cut a path through Erie's downtown for several decades in the mid-1800s. Clinton promoted the idea of a great canal in New York State and became the driving force in having it constructed. The canal consisted of 85 locks to manage a 500 foot (150 meter) rise in elevation from the Hudson River to Buffalo. Originally. The Erie Canal was first opened in 1825. As a result of the success of the canal, all of New York wanted more canals built in a similar manner. It was a dream, and many people scoffed, but when one man, DeWitt Clinton, became involved, the crazy dream started to become reality. The statistics of the Erie Canal were impressive: Boats on the canal were pulled by horses on a towpath, though steam-powered boats eventually became standard. (Rochester Public Library Local History Division picture file) -- Note that the boat is named "Palmyra". Having a local source of hydraulic cement greatly aided the construction process, and it reduced costs by eliminating the need to import European cement. On the eastern section, the lower Mohawk Valley required the construction of 27 locks over only 50 km (30 miles) in order to surmount a series of natural rapids, including those found in Cohoes and Little Falls. Each contractor was then responsible for supplying equipment and for hiring, supervising, and paying his own workers. 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