Erie Canal - Commercial Artery, National Symbol (2024)

inErie Canal

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Written by

Frances C. Robb Independent historian. Adjunct instructor of history, Waynesburg University, Pennsylvania.

Frances C. Robb

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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.

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Last Updated: Article History

The canal was an instant commercial and financial success. Pulled by mules or horses, canal boats were capable of carrying 30 tons of produce—far more than wagons—which lowered the cost of transporting products from Buffalo to New York City from $100 per ton to less than $10 per ton. With ready access to markets, settlers moved into upstate New York and western territories. Towns, including Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo, developed lively trade based on canal traffic. Buffalo became a major transshipment point as farm produce from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Canada flowed through the city on its way to New York City. Trade ran in both directions as manufactured goods from eastern cities were carried on the canal into western towns and villages. New York City in particular saw a dramatic increase in its trade and blossomed as a major trading centre. In just nine years, tolls charged on the canal had completely repaid the state loan and financed several branch canals in the state.

In 1835 the state decided to enlarge the canal to 21 metres wide by 2.1 metres deep (70 feet wide by 7 feet deep). Lock size was also increased to 33.5 by 5.5 metres (110 by 18 feet). Boats on the enlarged canal, which was completed in 1862, could carry up to 100 tons of produce. Although the canal had to close for up to five months each winter, it remained a popular method of shipment even after competition from railroads increased. Water transport, though slow, remained a steady and valuable method of moving freight, particularly bulky or heavy cargo.

In 1915 the state undertook a major overhaul of the canal system, increasing its dimensions to 46 metres wide by 3.6 metres deep (about 150 feet wide by 12 feet deep) and occasionally changing its path. Renamed the New York State Barge Canal (later the New York State Canal System), it connected the main artery of the old Erie Canal with Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, and the Finger Lakes. This new waterway could handle steamships carrying 2,000 metric tons of cargo. In spite of this modernization, trade had changed. The waterway could no longer compete against railroads or the new St. Lawrence Seaway, and traffic on the canal dwindled. Today the New York State Canalway Trail uses more than 320 km (200 miles) of the Barge Canal, including segments of the original Erie Canal, for multipurpose recreation.

The Erie Canal was not the first canal built in the United States, but it was the most influential. Begun in the spirit of nationalism and with optimistic pride in the American republican system of government, the canal became a symbol of this progress. Canal towns, including Rome, Utica, Troy, and Syracuse, were named after Classical cities. Architecture on the canal, including the weigh lock at Rochester, were styled after Greek and Roman buildings.

Considered one of the finest American accomplishments and a testament to the ingenuity of the American character, the Erie Canal was a marvel to be viewed by tourists and the inspiration for plays, poems, songs, and books. The success of the Erie Canal motivated other states to begin their own canal projects, and engineers trained on the Erie fanned out across the country providing expertise to these projects. By creating the nation’s first east-west water trade link, the canal encouraged westward expansion and enhanced New York’s economic growth.

Frances C. Robb
Erie Canal - Commercial Artery, National Symbol (2024)

FAQs

What did the Erie Canal contribute to ______? ›

The Erie Canal helped to create an American identity, tying newly formed states into the fabric of the Union.

Who built the Erie Canal answers? ›

Some laborers were Irish immigrants, but most were U.S.-born. For eight years of wet, heat, and cold, they felled trees and excavated, mostly by hand and animal power, mile after mile. They devised equipment to uproot trees and pull stumps and developed hydraulic cement that hardened under water.

What is the Erie Canal and why was it important? ›

The Erie Canal is a 363-mile waterway that connects the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River in upstate New York. The channel, which traverses New York state from Albany to Buffalo on Lake Erie, was considered an engineering marvel when it first opened in 1825.

Why is the Erie Canal no longer used? ›

The waterway could no longer compete against railroads or the new St. Lawrence Seaway, and traffic on the canal dwindled. Today the New York State Canalway Trail uses more than 320 km (200 miles) of the Barge Canal, including segments of the original Erie Canal, for multipurpose recreation.

What was one major effect of the Erie Canal? ›

The completion of the Erie Canal prompted a westward expansion, and a massive economic boom. The Erie Canal not only influenced the economic growth of New York State, but also had a great impact on the canal's adjacent lands, with many of New York State cities located along the original trade routes of the Erie Canal.

Who benefited the most from the Erie Canal? ›

The Erie Canal opened the Midwest to settlement.

By providing a direct water route to the Midwest, the canal triggered large-scale emigration to the sparsely populated frontiers of western New York, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois.

What if the Erie Canal was never built? ›

If the Erie Canal had not been constructed, most of the commerce of the Midwest would have followed the Mississippi to and from New Orleans, and social, economic, and political sympathies might have taken a different form.

Who actually built the Erie Canal? ›

So the Canal Commissioners had no choice but to hire an amateur crew of self-taught local engineers that included a few inexperienced surveyors and at least one local math teacher. The two chief engineers were Benjamin Wright and James Geddes, lawyers by trade who learned how to survey by prosecuting land disputes.

Is the Erie Canal still open? ›

Nearly 200 years old and still going strong. New York's canal system has been in continuous operation since 1825, longer than any other constructed transportation system on the North American continent.

What two bodies of water are connected by the Erie Canal? ›

Explanation: The Erie Canal connects the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. The Hudson River, after meeting the east end of the canal, flows to the Atlantic Ocean by way of New York City.

Can you still travel the entire Erie Canal? ›

We limit our vessels to the western half of the canal. You can travel as far west as Buffalo and the mouth of Lake Erie, to the East you can travel through the Cayuga-Seneca Canal to Cayuga Lake, or do Baldwinsville area in Syracuse past Syracuse.

What president built the Erie Canal? ›

After President Thomas Jefferson declined to support use of federal funds for a canal in New York and his successor James Madison vetoed a bill that would have provided federal money for canal and road projects, Clinton worked tirelessly to garner support for the canal from a deeply divided New York State legislature.

What were the disadvantages of the Erie Canal? ›

They liked their peaceful lives and were afraid that the Canal would bring thieves and corruption to their small towns and villages. They worried that strangers passing through on canal boats might also bring diseases from the eastern cities. New Yorkers had mixed feelings about the Erie Canal.

How did the Erie Canal contribute to industrialization? ›

The Erie Canal is a man made waterway linking the Hudson River to the Great Lakes. It opened up America to westward expansion, making the transport of goods and people quicker, cheaper, and more efficient and thus contributing to the growth of industrialization.

What was the purpose of the Erie Canal Quizlet? ›

The Erie Canal reduced the travel time from the Hudson River to the Great Lakes by one half and provided travelers a welcome alternative to the rutted, muddy road of the stage coach. Passengers traveled on packet boats pulled by a team of horses or mules at a leisurely pace equivalent to that of a fast walk.

What role did the Erie Canal play in the transportation revolution? ›

When the canal was opened in 1825, shipping traffic on the Hudson River ballooned as a result. The canal connected Lake Erie with the Hudson River, enabling cargo to travel efficiently between Ohio and New York City.

How did the Erie Canal contribute to the growth of New York City as a port and center of industry? ›

The movement of goods on the Erie Canal and to and from Albany boosted an already prominent New York City to the status of chief business and financial center of the nation. When the canal opened in 1825, the additional grain and farm produce traveling through the city increased gross business by $6 million.

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