The Erie Canal

The first canal proposal to be taken seriously was put forth in 1800. Thomas Jefferson called the initial proposal “a little short of madness,” but the surveys and proposals continued. Ultimately a survey performed in 1816 established the route of the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal would make its connection to the Atlantic Ocean (and the port of New York City) by beginning at the Hudson River near Troy, New York. The Hudson River flows past New York City and into New York Bay and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. From Troy, NY the canal would flow to the town Rome, NY and then through the cities of Syracuse, NY and Rochester, NY before ending in Buffalo, NY located on the northeast coast of Lake Erie.

Once the route and plans for the canal were established, it was time to obtain funds. The United States Congress approved a bill to provide funding for what was then known as the Great Western Canal, but President James Monroe found the idea unconstitutional and vetoed it. Therefore, the New York State legislature took the matter into its own hands and approved state funding for the canal in 1816, with tolls to pay back the state treasury upon completion. New York Governor DeWitt Clinton was the major proponent of the canal and tirelessly supported efforts for its construction. In 1817, his hard work paid off.

On July 4, 1817, construction of the Erie Canal began. The logistical problems facing the canal builders were significant—they proposed building a waterway 40 feet wide and 4 feet deep that would traverse more than 360 miles and, most significantly, rise more than 500 feet in elevation before reaching Lake Erie. This design would demand the construction of more than 80 locks and over a dozen aqueducts. All the more amazing is that the planners of the canal weren’t trained engineers, but surveyors and businessmen. Seen by detractors as a potentially enormous mistake, the canal was often called “Clinton’s Ditch”, and was not appreciated for its importance until many years later.

It took eight years to build the 363-mile-long Erie Canal. Immigrants, mostly from Ireland, supplied the back-breaking labor of clearing a path through the wilderness with axes and using winches to pull the stumps of felled trees. They then dug the canal by hand with shovels and horse power - without the use of today's heavy earth moving equipment. The 80 cents to one dollar a day that laborers were paid was often three times the amount laborers could earn in their home countries. The bottom of the 4-foot-deep canal was lined with clay. German stonemasons were brought over to construct 83 locks and 18 aqueducts. The work was slow and, at times, dangerous. One summer, 1,000 men died of swamp fever (malaria) when they tried to dig their way through the mosquito-infested swamps at the north end of Cayuga Lake in central New York.

On October 25, 1825, the entire length of the Erie Canal was complete. The canal was 363 miles long, 40 feet wide, and 4 feet deep. The canal consisted of 85 locks to manage a 500 foot (150 meter) rise in elevation from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. Governor DeWitt Clinton celebrated the completion of the canal with a nine-day trip from Buffalo to New York City. When he reached New York Harbor on Nov. 4, he poured water from Lake Erie into the harbor in a ceremony called the “Wedding of the Waters.”

The Erie Canal cost $7 million dollars to build but reduced shipping costs significantly. Before the canal, the cost to ship one ton of goods from Buffalo to New York City cost $100. After the canal, the same ton could be shipped for a mere $10 (a reduction of ~90%). The ease of trade prompted migration and the development of farms throughout the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest. Crops could be shipped to the growing metropolitan areas of the east and consumer goods could be shipped west.

Goods and people were transported quickly along the canal – freight cargo could speed along the canal at about 55 miles per 24 hour period, while passenger ships could move through the canal at an unbelievable 100 miles per 24 hour period! An average trip from New York City to Buffalo via the Erie Canal would only take about four days.

Within 10 years the canal had transformed the state of New York. Rochester and Buffalo became boomtowns and New York City surpassed Philadelphia as the busiest port in the United States. Before 1825, more than 85% of the population of New York State lived in rural towns of less than 3,000 people. With the opening of the Erie Canal, cities grew dramatically. After the opening of the canal, additional canals were constructed to connect the Erie Canal to Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, and the Finger Lakes. The Erie Canal and its neighbors became known as the New York State Canal System, which effectively connected the entire Great Lakes Region to the Atlantic Ocean.

The Erie Canal has been enlarged three times since its initial completion. By 1862 it was widened to 70 feet and a depth of 7 feet to handle larger boats. In the late 1890s improvements were made to make the canal 9 feet deep, and by 1918 the original Erie Canal was expanded for the final time, reaching 125 feet wide and 12 feet deep. Over the years the canal received competition from railroads, then trucks, and finally from the St. Lawrence Seaway, which opened in 1959 and allowed massive cargo ships to reach the Great Lakes from the Atlantic Ocean. Today the Erie Canal is used mainly by pleasure boaters, and many of the towpaths are now bicycle and walking paths.

1. 
   The Erie Canal links what two major bodies of water?
   

2. 
   Who was the New York politician that pushed for the Erie Canals construction? What nickname was given to the canal by the opposition?
   

3. 
   Construction of the Erie Canal began in what year? It was completed in what year?
   

4. 
   Who provided most of the labor to build the canal? Approximately how much did these laborers earn per day?
   

5. 
   How long is the Erie Canal? How wide was the original canal? How deep was the original canal?
   

6. 
   How much did the Erie Canal cost to build? What was the canals effect on shipping costs?
   

7. 
   How fast could a passenger ship travel through the Erie Canal? How long was the average trip from New York City to Buffalo using the Erie Canal?
   

8. 
   What is the primary use of the Erie Canal today?