There was no navigable river system from the East Coast that reached very far inland, except for the St. Lawrence River, which was navigable to Montreal. The Appalachian Mountains were the primary barrier, limiting the inland reach along rivers to a few hundred miles at most before navigation was blocked by rapids or waterfalls. The area around the Great Lakes had significant agricultural potential, but their access via water was blocked by the Lachine Rapids on the St.
Lawrence River and the Niagara Escarpment, which is a long, steep slope in the U. Areas between navigable waterways meant costly and time-consuming portage; freight had to be carried by horses or horse-drawn wagons. There were few roads at that time, and most would be considered only rough trails today. Journeys were difficult and time-consuming.
The canals built in the s and s closely followed the course of rivers; in fact, some river segments were replaced by a canal. Because the rivers did not follow a direct or straight path, neither could the canals.
However, they were very costly. As the first major canals were constructed they provided key economies of scale for inland transportation. On average, a horse was able to carry one-eighth of a ton, while a canal barge could carry 30 tons. Two canal systems emerged, one east of the Appalachians along the East Coast and one west of the Appalachians in the Midwest. Lawrence River to Lake Erie.
Several other branch canals were built to carry coal from mines in the Appalachian Mountains to East Coast cities. The first locks were only capable of elevating a barge 8 to 10 feet; this meant the need to climb upward by feet required 10 to 15 locks.
The canal climbed feet; it therefore required 74 locks. By the late s, lock technology had improved; they could lift a boat 30 to 40 feet. Ultimately, over one hundred thousand New Yorkers would sign the petition, helping to build a ground swell of public support for the project.
On April 15th, , the New York State Legislature finally approved construction of the Erie Canal, which Jesse Hawley had written so compellingly about just a decade earlier. Construction would begin on July 4th, in Rome, NY and would take eight years. The completion of the Erie Canal spurred the first great westward movement of American settlers, gave access to the rich land and resources west of the Appalachians and made New York the preeminent commercial city in the United States.
After traveling from the mouth of the Erie to New York City, he emptied two casks of water from Lake Erie into the Atlantic Ocean, celebrating the first connection of waters from East to West in the ceremonial "Wedding of the Waters". The effect of the Canal was both immediate and dramatic, and settlers poured west. In , there were 3, bushels of wheat transported down the Canal from Buffalo.
By this figure had increased to , bushels; four years later it reached one million. In nine years, Canal tolls more than recouped the entire cost of construction.
Within 15 years of the Canal's opening, New York was the busiest port in America, moving tonnages greater than Boston, Baltimore and New Orleans combined. The impact on the rest of the State can be seen by looking at a modern map. Between and , several lateral Canals opened including the Champlain, the Oswego and the Cayuga-Seneca. The Erie Canal opened on October 26, The canal transformed New York City into the commercial capital it remains today.
The Erie Canal also provided an economic boost to the entire United States by allowing the transport of goods at one-tenth the previous cost in less than half the previous time. By , the Erie Canal carried 62 percent of all U. For the first time, manufactured goods such as furniture and clothing could be shipped in bulk to the frontier. Farmers in western New York and the Midwest now had cash to purchase consumer goods, because they could more cheaply ship wheat, corn and other crops to lucrative East Coast markets.
It attracted vacationers, including Europeans such as Charles Dickens. The building of the Erie Canal and subsequent population explosion along its route accelerated the dispossession—or removal—of Native Americans in western New York and the Upper Midwest. The Erie Canal traversed the ancestral homelands of several groups, including the Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca.
Native Americans were sent to reservations in isolated portions of New York and other eastern States. Others were sent to unfamiliar outlying territories in the American Midwest. The Erie Canal was enlarged twice to fit wider and deeper boats. Some parts were rerouted to make way for more ship traffic in Portions of the original canal are still operable, though tourism is now the main source of boat traffic along the Erie Canal. Commercial and shipping traffic declined abruptly after the completion of the St.
Lawrence Seaway in It was 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide, and floated boats carrying 30 tons of freight. In order to keep pace with the growing demands of traffic, the Erie Canal was enlarged between and The "Enlarged Erie Canal" was The number of locks was reduced to In , the State again decided to enlarge the canal by the construction of what was termed the "Barge Canal", consisting of the Erie Canal and the three chief branches of the State system -- the Champlain Canal, the Oswego Canal, and the Cayuga and Seneca Canal.
The resulting Erie Barge Canal was completed in , and is 12 to 14 feet deep, to feet wide, and miles long, from Waterford to Tonawanda. This is the Erie Canal which today is utilized more often by recreational boats than cargo-carrying barges. In and , three of the original locks were restored to operating condition, with plans to restore the other two in the works.
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