Building The Erie Canal

Building The Erie Canal — page 3 — Major land additions to the continental United States When the year 1803 began the United States of America had only 17 states and one large territory surrounding the Great Lakes Most of the five and a half million Americans lived along the eastern edge of a huge undeveloped continent Georgia was the southernmost state and the western border of the country was the Mississippi River But by the end of 1803 President Thomas Jefferson had purchased the vast and unknown Louisiana Territory More land was quickly acquired The Pacific Northwest became part of the United States in 1846 when the boundary with Canada was defined By 1848 the country had added Florida and California as well as Texas and the Southwest Another small addition in 1853 the Gadsden Purchase formed today’s continental United States in size and shape not counting Alaska OREGON TERRITORY 1846 ESTABLISHED 1818 CEDED BY MEXICO 1848 LOUISIANA PURCHASE 1803 GADSDEN PURCHASE 1853 TEXAS ANNEXED 1845 6

Building The Erie Canal — page 4 — The challenge of exploring all of this newly acquired territory was immense But Americans were up to the challenge By 1869 a transcontinental railroad linked the 3,500 miles 5,633 kilometers of wilderness between the two coasts President Thomas Jefferson 1743 1826 The land suddenly became more accessible to explorers settlers and people bringing supplies and mail And there were nearly six times as many Americans as when the century began People had not only explored and settled much of the new land but also had made it easier to transport goods and communicate with each other from sea to shining sea UNITED STATES PRIOR TO 1803 CEDED BY SPAIN 1819 7

Building The Erie Canal — page 5 — Several developments were crucial to this extraordinary and rapid growth New York’s construction of the Erie Canal linked the busy Atlantic coast with the hinterlands making people in the Great Lakes region less likely to break away from the United States Although it took a century to realize the original vision completion of the Erie Canal made New York the leading state in both population and prosperity Map showing the route of the Erie Canal from the Hudson River to Lake Erie CANADA VT MA CT LAKE ONTARIO ERIE CANAL LAKE ERIE ERIE CANAL NEW YORK RIVER HUDSON NEW JERSEY PENNSYLVANIA 8

Building The Erie Canal — page 6 — France began work on the Panama Canal in 1881 but stopped because of engineering problems and high mortality due to disease The United States later took over the project and completed the canal in 1914 CANALS ARE ANCIENT Canal building is ancient going back perhaps 5,000 years The most ancient canals known were along the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia now the countries of Iraq Iran and Syria Famous canals include the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal The United States built the Panama Canal in 10 years 1904 1914 It allowed ocean travelers to cut 8,000 miles 12,900 kilometers off the journey around the tip of South America The 100-mile 160-kilometer long Suez Canal which links the Red Sea with the Mediterranean is 190 feet 58 meters wide at the surface and at least 33 feet 10 meters deep The French dug it by hand over nearly a century 1805 1894 For thousands of years boats were hitched to horses and pulled through the canal 9

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