The Erie Canal

The Erie Canal — page 3 — THE ERIE CANAL The 363-mile 584-kilometer canal was constructed from 1817 to 1825 along the Mohawk River between the Hudson River and Lake Erie It connected Lake Erie at the city of Buffalo in the western part of the state with Albany the state capital located in the east At Albany the canal met with the Hudson River which runs south to New York City and empties into New York Bay at the southern tip of Manhattan Island The success of the Erie Canal propelled New York City into becoming a major commercial center and encouraged canal construction throughout the United States With ready access to markets settlers moved into upstate New York and western territories The importance of the canal to the early expansion of the United States cannot be overstated It opened the Great Lakes region to industry and farming and it provided provided a market for manufactured goods from the East By creating the nation’s first east-west water-trade link the canal encouraged westward expansion 6

The Erie Canal — page 4 — CHAPTER ONE WESTWARD HO In the middle of the 1700s both Britain and France controlled land in North America Britain controlled the thirteen colonies that later became the United States Under French rule was the area called New France It included large parts of what is now eastern Canada and also covered much of the Great Lakes region and areas west of the Appalachian Mountains Both countries wanted the upper Ohio River valley in what is now northeastern Ohio and western western Pennsylvania The French built a chain of forts from the St Lawrence River to the Mississippi and were trading with the Native Americans in the area However this land was claimed by Virginia under its sea-to-sea grant from England People from the British colonies were starting settlements in what they called the western frontier The conflict over the Ohio River valley led to an epic struggle between the two countries the French 77

The Erie Canal — page 5 — THE ERIE CANAL Map detailing land that constituted New France denoted in green circa the early eighteenth century The French were at odds with the British over disputed trade routes in the area and Indian War which lasted from 1754 to 1763 By 1760 the British had captured all of New France The war ended when Britain and France signed the Treaty of Paris on February 10 1763 After the American Revolution ended in 1783 this wilderness area became part of the United States of America The Ordinance of 1787 provided that from 8

The Erie Canal — page 6 — WESTWARD HO three to five states could be carved from the territory's territory’s limits After the land was surveyed it was quickly occupied The new country was expanding westward OPENING TRADE Settling the western frontier was one thing Making it a viable place to live however was another Using what is known as subsistence farming settlers in Ohio and farther farther west could certainly feed themselves from their own livestock and whatever crops they produced Yet farmers and other tradesmen also needed a healthy market for what they grew raised or produced Likewise western settlers needed to purchase clothes furniture and other manufactured goods that came out of eastern cities Distance and a certain degree of isolation from the larger established eastern cities and towns made trade difficult to say the least Hauling goods and people by land to what was known then as the interior of the United States took quite a while The shortest distance between two points is a straight line but there was no straight-through path from the East to the interior thanks to the Appalachian mountain range Getting around the Appalachians added time to the journey New York City Philadelphia and Baltimore were all rivals for the trade of the growing interior of the United States namely the Ohio River valley and the western 9

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