By: Connor Scalamogna

DeWitt Clinton came up with the idea for the Erie Canal. It took him many years to convince people it needed to be built.

Clinton’s Reasoning Water transportation was... Quicker, Easier, And cheaper than over-land travel.

A depiction of people building the canal. It was tough for the farmers and if they needed help, Irish laborers were always able.

A typical canal worker earned 80 cents to $1 a day.

This is a map of the Erie Canal. As you can see, it goes from Albany (the Hudson river), through Syracuse, and all the way to Buffalo (Lake Erie).

In 1825, it had 83 locks. Now, it has 57. In case you didn’t know, a lock raises and lowers boats between stretches of water of different levels on canals.

It also had 18 aqueducts to bypass rivers and streams.

It was a great success! Because of this success, There was easier access to the nation’s largest port city. It encouraged more citizens to build canals. It cut transportation costs. It raised land values. It stimulated the growth of cities. It cut travel time by nine days. Important

It completed a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.

It also helped settle Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and other states on the Great Lakes.

The success of the Erie Canal inspired people to build more canals such as the Blackstone Canal.

Quotes

“They have built the longest canal in the world, in the least time, with the least experience, for the least money, and the greatest public benefit.” ~Anonymous supporter of the Erie Canal

“The moon is waxing toward her full and every heart beats for joy at the noble scene. How pleasant too, to see the brilliant lamps of numberless boats passing and repassing upon the smooth unruffled surface of the Canal, to hear the song of the jolly boatman or driver-boy, to see the boats sweeping by freighted with the riches of the West.” ~ Jonathan Pearson, Diary, July 25, 1833