THE ERIE CANAL

THE ERIE CANAL

The Erie Canal, built 1817-1825, was a grand project relentlessly promoted by DeWitt Clinton and sometimes called “Clinton’s Ditch.”  Its construction challenges were overcome with basic American ingenuity and hard work – removing trees, widening narrow passages, crossing wide rivers, for example. Local and immigrant workers dug the 363 miles long canal with backbreaking labor and the absence of any high tech or even low tech machinery. As William Stone said in celebrating the canal, the builders "have built the longest canal in the world, in the least time, with the least experience, for the least money, and to the greatest public benefit."

The canal penetrated the barrier created by the Allegheny Mountains. It created a far faster route to the west and opened up America’s expansion to the fertile lands of Ohio, Michigan, and the rest of the Middle West.  Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago became major cities of commerce. The canal remained an important commercial route until the end of the 19^th century when its convenience and speed were surpassed by the advent of railroads.  Expanded and rerouted into the Erie Barge Canal, it continues to operate to this day, used annually by over 100,000 pleasure boats and an occasional commercial craft.

For more canal history, see Peter Bernstein’s Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation.  Also, take a look at our June 7, 2013 blog based on a visit to the Erie Canal Museum.

Falls next to the lock

Swing Bridge 

Entering an Erie Canal lock

Jane & Bob on the top deck