Erie Canal Links (4th Grade)

On July 4th, 1817, workers in Rome, New York, began construction on the Erie Canal. The goal was to connect New York City's port with the resources of the west. The Erie Canal was finished in October of 1925, and changed New York's population and prestige forever.

Discovery Ed Clip: Building the Erie Canal

Erie Canal Songs

"Clinton's Big Ditch"

The Erie Canal

Old prints, paintings, and postcards

Images of the Erie Canal

Erie Canal - The Building of the Great Western Canal.

On July 4, 1817,construction of the Erie Canal began in Rome, New York. The first segment of the canal would proceed east from Rome to the Hudson River. Many canal contractors were simply wealthy farmers along the canal route, contracted to construct their own tiny portion of the canal. Thousands of British, German, and Irish immigrants provided the muscle for the canal, which had to be dug with shovels and horse power - without the use of today's heavy earth moving equipment. The 80 cents to one dollar a day that laborers were paid was often three times the amount laborers could earn in their home countries.

On October 25, 1825, the entire length of the Erie Canal was complete. The canal consisted of 85 locks to manage a 500 foot (150 meter) rise in elevation from the Hudson River to Buffalo.

The canal was 363 miles (584 kilometers) long, 40 feet (12m) wide, and 4 feet deep (1.2m). Overhead aqueducts were used to allow streams to cross the canal.

The Erie Canal cost $7 million dollars to build but reduced shipping costs significantly. Before the canal, the cost to ship one ton of goods from Buffalo to New York City cost $100. After the canal, the same ton could be shipped for a mere $10. The ease of trade prompted migration and the development of farms throughout the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest. Farm fresh produce could be shipped to the growing metropolitan areas of the east and consumer goods could be shipped west.

Before 1825, more than 85% of the population of New York State lived in rural villages of less than 3,000 people. With the opening of the Erie Canal, the urban to rural ratio began to change dramatically.

Goods and people were transported quickly along the canal - freight sped along the canal at about 55 miles per 24 hour period but express passenger service moved through at 100 miles per 24 hour period, so a trip from New York City to Buffalo via the Erie Canal would only have taken about four days.

In 1862, the canal was widened to 70 feet and deepened to 7 feet (2.1m). Once the tolls on the canal had paid for its construction in 1882, they were eliminated.

After the opening of the canal, additional canals were constructed to connect the Erie Canal to Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, and the Finger Lakes. The Erie Canal and its neighbors became known as the New York State Canal System. Now, the canals are primarily used for pleasure boating - bike paths, trails, and recreational marinas line the canal today. The development of the railroad in the 19th century and the automobile in the 20th century sealed the fate of the Erie Canal.

Erie Canal - The Building of the Great Western Canal

New York State Canals Map

Erie Canal Tour

Have Fun with History: The Erie Canal Video

In the year 2000, on the occasion of the 175th Anniversary of the opening of the Erie Canal, the Mandeville Gallery of Union College, Schenectady, NY, put together an exhibition in three parts entitled "Monument of Progress". The exhibition was curated by Rachel Seligman, Director/ Curator, Mandeville Gallery, with paintings and prints from various collections, and models created by Union College students.

Erie Canal's 175th Anniversary

Recent photographs of the remains of old Erie Canal sites and structures, primarily those from the Enlarged Erie Canal era (post-1862).

Traces of the Old Erie Canal

The Erie Canal: A Brief History

Left: "Erie Canal, Lockport, N.Y." -- Reconstruction of the Lockport Locks ; approximately 1910 (Courtesy of Stephen R. Bye, whose grandfather, Robert Bye of Olcott, N.Y., worked as a carpenter on the canal expansion).

http://www.eriecanal.org/images/Lockport-1/LockportLocks-1910.jpg

"Method of Excavating the Original Canal, West of Lockport"

Original Locks at Lockport 

"Entrance of the Canal into the Hudson at Albany", by James Eights.

http://www.eriecanal.org/images/general-1/Eights-Entrance.jpg

"Travelling on the Erie Canal" by H. Inman -- from: The Northern Traveller and Northern Tour. New ed. published by J. & J. Harper, 1831. (4 3/8 in. x 2 5/8 in.) -- Reproduction available from The Farmer's Museum, Cooperstown, NY.

http://www.eriecanal.org/images/general-1/Inman-1831.jpg

View on the Erie Canal" by John William Hill, 1830-1832.

(Watercolor on paper, 9 3/4 x 13 3/4 in.). From The New York Public Library, I.N. Phelps Stokes Collection of American Historical Prints

View on the Erie Canal

The Marriage of the Waters" by C.Y. Turner, 1905 -- A mural decoration in the DeWitt Clinton High School, N.Y.C . depicting Governor DeWitt Clinton pouring water from Lake Erie into the ocean at New York in a ceremony celebrating the "Marriage of the Waters" between Lake Erie and the Atlantic in 1825.

The Marriage of the Waters

"Opening of The Erie Canal" -- an Engraving of a Print by Howard Pyle (1853-1911). From The "Evolution of New York", by Thomas A. Janvier, in "Harper's New Monthly Magazine", Vol. 87, no. 517, June 1893. (4 3/4 x 7 1/2 in.)

http://www.eriecanal.org/images/general-1/Pyle-1893.jpg

On July 4th, 1817, workers in Rome, New York, began construction on the Erie Canal. The goal was to connect New York City's port with the resources of the west. The Erie Canal was finished in October of 1925, and changed New York's population and prestige forever.

Erie Canal - Music K8

The Erie Canal – A Journey Through History

New York State Map - 1825

Old N. Y. State Maps - Detail for Erie Canal

How Locks Work

Unlock the Legend of the Erie Canal!

Erie Canal Postcards

Erie Canal Images