America 250: Erie Canal transformed US trade and fueled nation’s growth

As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, WTOP presents “250 Years of America,” a multipart series examining the innovations, breakthroughs and pivotal moments that have shaped the nation since 1776. 

AAR is proud to partner with WTOP to bring you this series.

The Erie Canal was a transformative public works project in American history.

Stretching 351 miles from Albany to Buffalo, the canal is immortalized in song and traces back to a decision by New York Gov. DeWitt Clinton in the early 1800s to move the project forward.

Construction began July 4, 1817, and took eight years to complete.

Thousands of mostly Irish Catholic immigrants, using only animals and hand tools, created the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean, through the Hudson River, to the Great Lakes.

“There were no trained civil engineers in the country, so New Yorkers had to pretty much teach themselves how to build a canal,” said Derrick Pratt of the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse, New York. “There are no steam shovels or anything. This is mostly shovels and picks, as well as a lot of kind of innovative inventions made to do some labor saving.”

The first known use of a wheelbarrow in the United States took place in Rome, New York.

Political opponents derided the project as “Clinton’s Folly” and “Clinton’s Big Ditch.”

However, when the canal opened in late 1825 according to Pratt, it quickly became a moneymaker. Toll revenue from the first year alone covered the entire construction debt.

“It cut transportation times between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean from about one month to around a week, and transportation costs from about $100 a ton to less than $10 a ton,” Pratt said. “This was transformative. You see cities like Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo spring up, as well as Great Lakes cities like Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, all boom after the canal opens. Likewise, New York City establishes itself as America’s foremost port.”

Pratt pointed out that the canal reached its peak in 1855, when 33,000 ships moved through it. It remained competitive for another half-century before railroads and trucks eclipsed it.

As it became easier for people to move from East to West, Pratt said societal changes followed alongside economic growth.

“You have a lot of major social and cultural movements that take place along the canal. You have, for instance, the founding of Mormonism out in Palmyra, and you have things like the abolition movement with people like Frederick Douglass in Rochester and the women’s rights movement,” Pratt said.

When it was finished, the Erie Canal was the second-longest canal in the world, behind the Grand Canal in China.

It was widened and expanded several times, including work between 1905 and 1918 that expanded it to 120 feet wide and 12 feet deep to accommodate larger ships.

The coverall elevation difference is roughly 565 feet, and it has 35 locks, including the Waterford Flight, the steepest locks in the United States.

This monumental work remains in use today for shipping, though it is used mostly for recreational purposes.

The New York State Canalway Trail now follows the canal across the state as a popular cycling path.

In 2000, Congress designated the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor to protect and promote the system.