The Erie Canal BY: Katie Garnett

Geographical Location The Erie Canal, also known as the Great Western Canal connected the Hudson River at Albany with Lake Erie at Buffalo. The canal created the first all-water link between the Atlantic seaboard and the Great Lakes.

Importance of the Erie Canal Provide transportation of goods and services from the east to the west Provide job opportunities Provide social and economical benefits

First Idea of a Canal DeWitt Clinton, New York’s city mayor and later Governor of New York State was the first to jump at this opportunity because, he believed that New York had a natural advantage of a good land route. He saw this as an opportunity to have control of the western side of the country.

Beginning of Construction The New York State Legislature approved the arrangement of the Erie Canal on April 15, 1917. The bill stated that the canal construction was authorized at a cost of $7 million dollars. The bill also stated guidelines for the building of the canal such as: Must be forty feet wide at the top Must be twenty-eight feet wide at the bottom Must have a depth of four feet On July 4, 1817, the first shovelful was made in Rome, New York to mark the beginning of the construction of the Erie Canal.

Obstacles faced during construction The construction process of the canal needed engineers however, at the time no one in the state of New York was an engineer so intelligent people stepped up in place. The construction required a lot of man power that many citizens of New York lacked. The construction also needed massive pieces of equipment to build such a huge waterway.

Steps in Constructing the Erie Canal Remove trees and stumps Load soil into mule-drawn carts for the building of the tow path Star streamline process

Disaster Struck When laborers crossed the Montezuma Marsh, over 1,000 of them died with of swamp fever. This caused a stop in construction for the season and work was to be resumed in the winter.

After Disaster Struck The first section of a fifteen mile stretch from Rome to Utica was completed in 1819. A short year later, the stretch lengthened to Salina. In the fall of 1823, Albany to Brockport was completed which meant that the western part of the canal was the only part left to be built.

The Erie Canal Completed After eight years of tremendous hard labor and construction, the Erie Canal was finally completed on October 16, 1825.

Technological Advancements The Erie Canal introduced the lock system. These locks were built to be assumed as bottlenecks along the canal which were originally built as double necks. Five locks were built for heading down the canal and another five were built for heading up the canal.

Economical Effect of Erie Canal The Erie Canal shortly became known as the most successful and influential waterway in North America. The canal provided a major benefit to the transportation of raw materials which boosted the economy. The Erie Canal became peoples main source of transportation. The Erie Canal also began to develop small, rural towns along the waterway.

Social Effect of the Erie Canal The transportation of goods made it possible for a wider variety of goods became available. The behavior of canal boat crews attracted major attention. The Erie Canal was the center of attention in the newspaper for its success.

Works Cited http://www.canals.ny.gov/history/history.html http://www.nycanals.com/Erie_Canal http://www.surveryhistory.org/building_the_erie_canal.html. http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/eriecanal.htm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie_Canal http://www.eriecanal.org/maps.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeWitt_Clinton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montezuma_National_Wildlife_Refuge http://cenews.com/article/4293/new-yorks-erie-canal http://www.irishexaminerusa.com/mt/2010/03/23/200_years_later.html http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma02/volpe/canal/culture.html http://www.carolynjburns.com/history.html http://paulwienyshdentry.weebly.com/bibliography.html