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Article: Erie Canal
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ERIE CANAL
ERIE CANAL,
a 363-mile artificial waterway connecting Buffalo to Albany, New York, was the biggest public works project in the pre
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Civil War United States. Built by the State of New York between 1817 and 1825, and then enlarged between 1836 and 1862, the canal linked the Great Lakes to the Atlantic seaboard. Using locks, aqueducts, and man-made gorges, the canal over-came a combined ascent and descent of 680 feet. Celebrated for its technological achievements, the canal's practical influences were many: the waterway would hasten the displacement of New York's Iroquois Indians, quicken the westward migration of Euro-Americans, stimulate northeastern and midwestern ...