Inventions and Expansion

Canals

The Erie Canal was started in 1817. It was a man-made waterway in New York and went from Albany on the Hudson River to Buffalo on Lake Erie. The canal connected the eastern sea ports with the interior of the Old Northwest. It was a success. The Erie Canal caused much interest in building canals. Those who built it wanted the canal to make travel easier.

A man by the name of Dewitt Clinton wanted to build it. He tried to get the federal government to help do it, but they turned him down. He then asked the state of New York. They said they would help. Those who were against this idea called it "Clinton's Ditch."

The Erie Canal took eight years to build and connected Albany, New York with Buffalo, New York, and Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The canal was 350 miles long and cost seven million dollars to build. Between the times it was completed and when it closed in 1882 it made $121 million in return.

Travel across the state could now be done much faster and cheaper. It took two weeks to go from Albany to Buffalo by wagon or stagecoach. Making that trip on the canal only took five days. The cost to ship something was less too. Things could now be sent at 10 percent the cost. This is one tenth of what it cost before. .

The Erie Canal changed many things for this country. More westward expansion became possible. Travel became easier. It was also faster and cheaper. The canal opened up unsettled parts of northern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Many new companies were started. These companies helped build the Erie and other canals.

Other states saw what canals could do in their states. Soon there was a complete water route from New York City to New Orleans. By 1840, 3,000 miles of canals had been built. The canals became important routes of transportation in our country. And example of this is The Ohio and Erie Canal system. It completed a water route between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River when it was finished.

The National Parks Service protects some of the canal systems from the Canal Era. Some of those canals are as follows:

Reading resources

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Text Credits:

http://www.ushistory.org/us/22a.asp;
http://www.ushistory.org/us/25c.asp - Canal history;
http://www.nps.gov/erie/learn/historyculture/index.htm;
https://www.nps.gov/nr/ - National Park Service