The Erie Canal

at the beginning of the 1800s merchants along America's East Coast had no way to reach the natural resources of the country's interior the Appalachian mountain range running from Maine to Georgia stood in their way and there was no River running through them because of our peculiar geography where we have this coastal plain and then we have the Appalachian Mountains there was no way to get the goods produced west of the Appalachians east of the Appalachians because there was no roads no good means of transportation so most of those goods had to go down the Mississippi to New Orleans which didn't even become American territory until eighteen three or four the business leaders in New York City were eager to divert some of New Orleans River traffic since water was the cheapest way to transport goods like wheat and coal they decided to create a man-made river canals are very ancient in concept what they are of course is an artificial river and the only place where it Canal is possible and the whole length of the Appalachian Mountains from Maine to Georgia is in upstate New York between Albany and Buffalo where there's a gap in the mountains and several people have mentioned this in the course of the 18th century but it was do it Clinton who was governor of New York for much of the early 19th century who pushed it a lot of people thought he was crazy Clinton envisioned a canal that would link to Hudson River to the Great Lakes the scale of the project was massive over 350 miles long the canal would be more than twice as long as any canal ever built the project was budgeted at six million dollars three-quarters of the entire federal budget at the time but Clinton determined and he got it through the New York State Legislature and they built it remarkably it came in under budget and ahead of schedule they started in 1817 finished in 1825 and it was an instant roaring success the Erie Canal was the technological wonder of its age for the first time goods could be transported via water from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean as soon as it was open people were using it because it was such a cheap way to move good I mean before the Erie Canal ton of flour might take three weeks to get from Buffalo to New York it took six days with the Erie Canal and cost about one twentieth as much the Erie Canal finally gave merchants in New York access to America's heartland and brought more American goods to the rest of the world other American cities followed suit building canals of their own but the age of the canal would end as quickly as it had begun with a rise of a newer faster mode of transportation the railroad

Channel: NBC News Learn

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Length: 2min 51sec (171 seconds)

Published: Fri May 01 2020