today we're looking at the Erie Canal
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you'll find more resources that go with many of the bellringer videos stretching over 350 miles
the Erie canal through Northern New York State connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean
built during the first half of the 1800s basically dug by hand prior to large-scale
Excavating Machinery being available the Erie Canal is considered to be a Marvel of engineering
the canal would turn New York City into an economic Powerhouse as goods and resources
flowed through the city and the city went from a population of a hundred and twenty thousand
in 1825 to over 1 million by 1860. all along the canal major cities and towns grew such as Buffalo
Rochester and Albany ever since the earliest explorers came to North America there had been
a search for a waterway that would connect the interior of the continent to the Atlantic Ocean
the midwestern region what today would be states such as Michigan Ohio Indiana and Illinois had a
wealth of resources minerals Timber and especially fertile Farmland to grow crops however trying to
get these resources to markets on the East Coast was difficult and time consuming as everything
had to be loaded and moved over land pulled by horses or oxen in 1807 New York Merchant
Jesse Hawley began writing essays suggesting a canal be constructed connecting Lake Erie
at Buffalo to Albany New York on the Hudson River the Hudson River would then flow down to New York
City Holly's idea caught the attention of the mayor of New York City Dewitt Clinton who saw
the canal as the key to the growth of New York in 1817 Clinton was elected governor of New York and
made building the canal his number one priority on July 4th 1817 construction of the canal began
near Utica New York work was difficult and slow as the crews were attempting to dig a canal 40 feet
wide and four feet deep with much of it being through thick forest that had to be cleared and
going through solid rock which could only be moved by using gunpowder to blast their way through two
years after construction began only the first 15 miles were complete with over 340 miles to go many
in New York blame the slow progress on Governor Clinton and began to call the project Clinton's
ditch or Clinton's Folly progress continued however as it is estimated that close to 50
000 workers would take part in the construction over the next eight years with a large portion
of the workforce being made up of Irish immigrants who had recently come to America
of the fifty thousand that worked on the canal it's estimated that over one thousand people died
during the construction due to blasting accidents construction collapses and many dying from disease
one challenge that had to be overcome was the elevation difference between Buffalo
and Albany with Buffalo setting over 400 feet higher than Albany in order to make the canal
flow smoothly between the two cities a series of 83 locks which would raise and lower boats
to different levels to account for the elevation change were constructed they also had to construct
two aqueducts or in other words water bridges for the canal to flow over other streams after eight
years of construction on October 26 1825 the Erie Canal officially opened connecting the Great Lakes
to the Atlantic Ocean the total cost to build the canal was just over seven million dollars Governor
Clinton boarded a boat called The Seneca Chief and led a victory flotilla down the 363 miles of the
canal the canal revolutionized transportations of goods and people prior to the Canal's construction
the trip from Buffalo to Albany took two weeks traveling on a stagecoach now the trip only took
five days goods and raw materials from the Midwest region could now be shipped cheaper and quicker
than ever before New York City eclipsed other major port cities of the U.S as by 1853 62 percent
of all U.S trade was traveling along the canal in the following decades the canal was widened
and deepened to handle the ever-increasing traffic along the Waterway eventually however as railroads
began to be built Across the Nation connecting east to west the canal began to be used less
and less as railroads could travel more direct routes to different locations in the early 1900s
the state of New York constructed updated larger canals to handle barge traffic and much of the
original Erie Canal was abandoned today much of the original Canal is preserved for its historic
significance and is used primarily by recreational boaters the Erie Canal an amazing feat of
engineering and construction truly transformed the country as a Connect the east coast to the
interior of the continent and sparked enormous growth and prosperity as the Young Nation was
establishing its identity so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching