By: Phoebe, Ricky, Amber, Jake, and Claire

The Erie Canal is different from other water ways because it has still water. It was DeWitt Clintons idea to build the Erie Canal. Thomas Jefferson thought it was a little short of madness. Other people thought it was ridiculous.

The Erie Canal was built from which means it took 17 years to build. It was built to increase trade in New York. Immigrants from other countries helped build the Erie Canal for jobs and money, but they only got paid $0.50 a day. Which was considered a lot of money back then.

The bodies of water that were connected by the Erie Canal were Lake Erie and The Hudson River. It took nine days riding on the Erie Canal to make it from Albany to Buffalo. Some cities that are along the Erie Canal are Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse, Rome, Lockport, Brockport, Rochester, Troy, Medina and Utica.

The Canal was useful because it helped increase trade between cities and countries. The Erie Canal was used to transport goods from the east to the west. The impact of the Erie Canal made New York the biggest port in the country, and made Syracuse a successful city. The Erie Canal is used today for tourist attraction.

It cost $7,ooo,ooo to build the Erie Canal. The length of the Erie Canal was 363 miles long, it was 40 feet wide and 4 feet deep. A lock is a section of the Erie Canal that is between 2 water tight gates. The lock fills water on 1 side to make the water level even so the boat passes through smoothly. The types of boats that traveled on the canal were packet boats that carried people, grain boats that carried grain, lumber boats that carried lumber, barge boats that carried other boats, bullhead boats that carried flour, and bumboats that carried everything a family needed.

The Erie Canal has 83 locks and18 aqueducts.Thousands of trees had to be cut down for the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal took 8 years to build. Aqueducts were 802 feet long.

Phoebe: I love to play soccer. Reading is fun and I have one little sister. When I have free time I like to bike ride but only if its warm. I also play lacrosse. I have 2 cats Amber: I love basketball.When I have free time I like to shoot hoops. I have one sister. I love animals. I live near a farm of cows. I love dogs. I used to have two dogs that died.

Jake: I like to play a lot of sports. One fact about the canal I found very interesting is, it was all made by hand. Claire: I love my family. One fact I found very interesting about the canal is that it has so many locks.

Ricky: My favorite sports are basketball and swimming. One fact I found interesting about the canal is that it took eight years to build.