Who Invented the Erie Canal?
The Erie Canal wasn’t invented. Quite a few people were thinking about a canal across New York State well before 1809. We know that because Thomas Jefferson commented on it while president in that year with his famous “little short of madness” quote. Dewitt Clinton was the Governor of New York who made the Erie Canal a reality. He gave credit to an otherwise insignificant businessman named Jesse Hawley for introducing him to the idea. Hawley was spending time in a debtor’s prison near Rochester in Canandaigua because he couldn’t pay his bills. He wrote a series of articles spelling out the idea of building a canal across New York State. Governor Clinton read what Hawley wrote, and was persuaded that he was right. Construction began in 1817. The governor encountered much opposition, but he persisted until the canal was completed in 1825.
Why was the Erie Canal built?
The Erie Canal was built to connect the wilderness that was Central and Western New York State to the populated areas of the east coast. Heavy cargoes like wheat, lumber, salt, and manufactured goods were hard to transport through the dense forests and hills in the Appalachian mountain chain. There were no paved highways or railroads then, but boats could be built and horses and mules could pull them.
Where did the Erie Canal start and end?
The canal over its history connected Lake Erie at Buffalo, with the Hudson River at Albany. The cities at each end of the canal grew rapidly. As they grew, planners soon felt the need to move canal activity away from their downtown environments. At Buffalo, the original canal was routed to enter Lake Erie directly south of the city. Remember that the Erie Canal needed a towpath all the way until the modern Barge Canal was finished in 1918. They also had to avoid the currents and shallow bedrock of the Niagara River. Later the canal was rerouted to enter the river north of Buffalo at Tonawanda. At the east end it was a similar story. The modern Barge Canal terminates today at Troy, just north of Albany.
How long did it take to build the Erie Canal?
It took 8 years to build the original Erie Canal. They started near Rome, NY on July 4, 1817 and finished just south of Lockport on October 26, 1825. The opening celebration included a series of cannons arranged along the entire route, firing in succession all the way. Governor Dewitt Clinton rode the entire distance to New York City on the Seneca Chief, along with a keg of Lake Erie Water to pour into the waters of New York City’s harbor.