The erie canal Rosemary M. Stephens

Buffalo during the 1800s-1900s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcNJ2RMOd3U When seeing these photos think: How were goods transported before the Canal? Was Buffalo a booming city? Was New State booming? Why would it be hard to travel before the creation of a canal?

Before the Erie Canal Transportation was a lot harder before the Erie canal. Although the sea and rivers provided adequate waterways for transportation, the Appalachian Mountains did pose a problem. Many miles needed to be traveled over land, which would have not been so hard if the roads then were not so rough.

Prior to the Erie Canal, commerce and trade with the Western Territories was primarily routed through the Mississippi River because the Appalachian Mountains were such a formidable natural boundary Late 18th and 19th centuries, the new nation known as the United States of America began to develop plans to improve transportation into the interior and beyond the great physical barrier of the Appalachian Mountains. A major goal was to link Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes with the Atlantic Coast through a canal.

Tour of the canal: Past & Present http://eriecanal.org/tour.html http://www.archives.nysed.gov/projects/eriecanal/ec_1825.shtml