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What
is the Erie Canal?
The Erie Canal is
a 363-mile waterway in New York connecting the Great Lakes to the
Atlantic seaboard, from the Hudson River at Albany to Lake Erie at
Buffalo (see map). Initiated in
1817 for $7M (nearly $200M today), the canal was America’s first
major infrastructure project and revolutionized trade and commerce in
the United States.
The project relied
on self-taught amateurs—including
teachers, judges, and surveyors. The workers, nearly 50,000, dug the
entire canal with hand tools, picks, and gunpowder (dynamite had not
yet been invented). The original Erie Canal had 83 locks, each
designed to be operated by a single person. This moved boats through
a 565-foot elevation change.
The canal revolutionized the
American economy, allowing goods
to efficiently pass between the East Coast and the rest of the
country. Freight charges dropped by 90%—from about $100 per ton to
$10 on key routes. In the mid-1800s, the canal carried more settlers westward than any other route. The canal also
allowed information to travel faster than ever before—news could
travel between New York and Ohio in 10 days, instead of 30.
... Read what else we learned about the
canal here.
Also, check out
...
> The canal
remains open today—see the route as it looks now. (More)
> A man in debtor's
prison, Jesse Hawley, originated the idea of the canal. (More)
> Thomas
Jefferson viewed the proposed canal as "little short of
madness." (More) __________________________________________________________________ Check out NCOFCU's additional features:
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