Historic New York

Construction of the Erie Canal was hailed as the greatest engineering accomplishment to that time. Under the leadership of Governor De Witt Clinton, construction began July 4, 1817. With little technical knowledge, thousands of workers surveyed, blasted and dug a 365-mile canal across the State. They hewed through solid rock and dug in marshes; they erected aqueducts to carry the canal over rivers and valleys; and they built 83 locks to take the canal over changes in ground level. When completed in October, 1825. the Erie connected Albany and Buffalo and became the main route between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes.

Passenger and freight barges crowded the canal. Western New York flourished with new, cheap transportation. The Erie Canal also hastened development of the Mid-West. Success of the Erie stimulated enlargement of the original canal in the 1840's and construction of additional canals. More than 500 miles of canals connected the Erie to other sections of New York State. After the 1870's, canal transportation declined and many canals closed. The Erie was modernized in 1918 as part of the State Barge Canal System consisting of the Erie, Champlain, Oswego and Cayuga-Seneca Canals.

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Show me all markers in:  Chittenango, NY  |  Madison County  |  13037  |  New York  |  United States of America

Canaseraga
Lateral Canal
Lamplighters Cart
Quality Hill Green
Lenox Anti-Slavery Society
Congregational Church - 1814
Amelia Earhart
Carmen Basilio
Enlarging the Erie Canal
Pool's Brook

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