The Erie Canal
“Proposed in 1808 and completed in 1825, the canal links the waters of Lake Erie in the west to the Hudson River in the east. An engineering marvel when it was built, some called it the Eighth Wonder of the World.”
-Frank E. Sadowski Jr.
"Who comes there?"
"Your brothers from the West, on the waters of the Great Lakes." "By what means have they been diverted so far from their natural course?" "Through the channel of the Erie Canal." "By whose authority and by whom was a work of such magnitude accomplished?" "By the authority and the enterprise of the people of the State of New York." -Seneca Chief dialogue with Erie Canal supervisor |
"As a bond of union between the Atlantic and Western states, it may prevent the dismemberant of the American Empire. As an organ of communication between the Hudson, the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes of the north and west and their tributary rivers, it will create the greatest inland trade ever witnessed. The most fertile and extensive regions of America will avail themselves of its facilities for a market."
-New York Governor DeWitt Clinton |
"The accomplishment of the great work, undertaken by the State of New York, by which the western lakes are united with the Atlantic ocean, through the Hudson river, forms a very important epoch in the history of our great republic. By facilitating the intercourse and promoting the prosperity and welfare of the whole, it will bind us more closely together, and thereby give a new and powerful support, to our free and most excellent system of government." -James Monroe |
"The Erie proved to be America’s greatest canal. Its effect was soon felt, not only through the state by throughout the east and the great Lakes region. Settlers flocked westward, forests gave way to sawmills and hamlets and these in turn grew into villages. Prosperous towns were established on the Great Lakes and a splendid chain of cities sprang up along the line of the Erie Canal.”
-Roy G. Finch
-Roy G. Finch
Video Clip From: Personal Interview with Ana B. Koval, President and CEO of the Canal Corridor Association
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Because of the Erie Canal's great success, Chicago began to contemplate building a canal of their own -- an idea that linked back to Marquette and Jolliet in the 1700s.
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