Erie+Canal

Section 6 – The Erie Canal Links the Northeast and the Midwest [[image:Erie_Canal.png width="169" height="261"]]
This is just one small segment of the Erie Canal. The structure at the bottom of the picture is a lock.

Have you ever sung a song called “The Erie Canal”? You are looking at the **[|canal]** **[** **canal:** **a ditch dug across land that often connects two waterways]** that inspired the song. A canal is a ditch dug across land. Often canals connect one waterway with another. The Erie Canal is a 340-mile-long ditch that connects the Hudson River with the Great Lakes.

Work on the Erie Canal began in 1817. At that time, there was no good way to move goods from the Northeast to the Midwest. Moving goods by horse and wagon was slow and costly. Moving goods by boat was faster and cheaper. But there was a problem. The Appalachian Mountains lay between the Midwest and the Northeast. No river crossed the mountains.

The men who built the Erie Canal solved that problem. They dug a 40-foot-wide ditch from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. Along the way, they built 83 **[|locks]** **[** **locks:** **a water elevator used to raise and lower boats]** to help carry boats over the mountains. Locks are used to raise and lower boats in the water.

The Erie Canal opened for use in 1825. It was an instant success. Freight prices between Lake Erie and New York City dropped from $100 a ton by road to just $10 a ton by canal. New York City was soon the nation’s busiest seaport.



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