Erie Canal Research Paper

929 Words4 Pages
What are the purposes of canals in America? A canal is an artificial waterway constructed to allow the passage of boats or ships inland or to convey water for irrigation, but they are used for much more than that. Canals have endless effects on America and the rest of the world. The Erie canal is a great example of one of those canals. The Erie Canal was built in 1825 and is located in Albany, New York and runs about 350 miles into Lake Erie. New Yorkers had mixed feelings about the Erie Canal. They saw the advantages of quicker and cheaper transportation, but they also recognized the problems it would bring. The building of the canal Canal was thought to cut shipping costs to Albany by almost seventy dollars per ton. It also would attract…show more content…
The first diggers were Americans, but it soon became apparent that the enormous project could not be accomplished with local farmers who also needed to tend their fields. By 1818, Irish men arrived to work on the canal and soon became the majority of people in the workforce. It took around ten years to dig the whole canal running three hundred and sixty three miles across the state of New York. It took about nine years for tolls to pay back for the construction. Later enlarged and deepened, the canal survived competition from the railroads in the later part of the 19th…show more content…
People migrated from everywhere around the country and began shipping and trading with the canal. In order to use the canal, horses with ropes attached to their back would walk across the water while pulling the boats behind them. The horses were only be able to travel about 5 miles per hour. The boats would usually contain goods but people that were trying to find new land, new business opportunities, or just trying to get to New York, were also pulled on the boats. Boats also carried settlers and business people who were looking for new opportunities. People would carry products from the newly settled lands in central and western New York, and midwestern states, to markets in New York City. People all across the country wanted to come and see the newly built canal and all of its

More about Erie Canal Research Paper

Open Document