More Than Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal

More Than Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal

US History/Napp Name: __________________

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“The New York State Canal System is the most commercially enduring and historically significant canal way in the United States. This waterway played a key role in turning New York City into our country’s most important center for commerce, industry, and finance. Besides spurring growth in the Mohawk and Hudson valleys, these canals helped open up western America for settlement and for many years transported much of the Midwest’s agricultural and industrial products to domestic and international markets.

In the early 19th century New York State Governor DeWitt Clinton embarked on the vision of constructing a canal crossing New York and connecting Albany and Buffalo. Criticized by some, who labeled the project ‘Clinton’s Ditch,’ Governor Clinton persevered. The result was a 364-mile long water route connecting the Hudson River (at Albany) with the Great Lakes (at Buffalo) – the first all water link between the Atlantic seaboard and the Great Lakes…

When it opened in 1825, the Erie Canal almost immediately revolutionized trade, commerce, and transportation. The uncomfortable two-week wagon or stagecoach trip from Albany to Buffalo became possible in merely five days – less than half the time. Freight rates fell to just 10 percent of their previous cost, markedly increasing the profit margin.

As more commerce with western New York became a reality, the importance of New York City as an Atlantic port multiplied. Western New York farmers, loggers, miners, and manufacturers found their economic hands could reach farther than ever before. Shipping and trade, and society in general, in New York City flourished.

Not only did the Erie Canal open the American interior to increased trade, commerce, and settlement. It also became an ‘information superhighway’ for new ideas. Social reforms like abolitionism, women’s rights, utopianism, and various religious movements thrived in the canal corridor…

Eventually, the wave of canal enthusiasm waned. As trains came onto the scene, canals began to take a back seat to the speed and versatility of locomotives. The creation of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 even further reduced commercial traffic on the Erie Canal.”

~ nps.gov

Questions:

1- What is a canal and why is it important? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2- State three significant facts about the Erie Canal. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3- Why do you think some people criticized Governor DeWitt Clinton and his vision of a canal in New York State? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4- How did the Erie Canal revolutionize trade? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5- How did the construction of the Erie Canal impact New York City? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6- Why was the canal an “information superhighway”? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7- What innovation led to the declining importance of the canal? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Erie Canal Song: Low Bridge, Everybody Down (Written by: Thomas Allen in 1905)
“I’ve got a mule, and her name is Sal,
Fif-teen miles on the Er-ie canal,
She’s a good ol' worker and a good ol’ pal,
Fifteen miles on the Er-ie can-al,
We’ve hauled some barges in our day,
Filled with lum-ber coal and hay,
And ev’ry inch of the way we know
From Al-ba-ny to Buff-a-lo OH
Low bridge ev’-ry bod-y down,
Low bridge for we’re com-in to a town,
And you al-ways know your neighbor,
You’ll always know your pal,
If you've ev-er navigated on the Er-ie can-al…”

Questions:

1- What economic facts can be determined by the lyrics of the song? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2- What facts about the Erie Canal can be determined by the lyrics of the song? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3- Why do you think a song was written about the Erie Canal? Explain your answer. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Analyze the following images:

Questions:

1- What economic fact can be ascertained from the illustration? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2- Using the illustration and the map, what facts can be ascertained about the Erie Canal?

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Multiple-Choice Questions:

What was an immediate effect of the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825?

1. Prices increased for food products along the Atlantic Coast.

2. Farmers could more easily ship grain to eastern markets.

3. A territorial conflict began with Canada over the Great Lakes.

4. Railroads were forced to reduce their shipping rates.

At the time it was completed, the Erie Canal was:

1. Already obsolete.

2. Beginning to fill with silt from the Great Lakes.

3. The greatest construction project Americans had ever undertaken.

4. Cited as an example of how not to construct a canal.

The Erie Canal:

1. Was made financially feasible by the development of the steamboat.

2. Connected the Hudson and Ohio rivers.

3. Never repaid the original public investment, but stimulated migration and economic growth.

4. Raised New York City to commercial dominance and stimulated canal construction by other cities and states.

The Erie Canal was the brainchild of

1. Benjamin Wright

2. Samuel Slater

3. Eli Whitney

4. DeWitt Clinton

5. Oliver Evans

Primary Source: An Excerpt from the Journal of Thomas S. Woodcock

“…These Boats have three Horses, go at a quicker rate, and have the preference in going through the locks, carry no freight, are built extremely light, and have quite Genteel Men for their Captains, and use silver plate. The distance between Schenectady and Utica is 80 Miles; the passage is $3.50, which includes board. There are other Boats called Line Boats that carry at a cheaper rate, being found for 2/3 of the price mentioned. They are larger Boats, carry freight, have only two horses, and consequently do not go as quickly, and moreover have not so select a company. Some boats go as low as 1 cent per Mile, the passengers finding themselves.

The Bridges on the Canal are very low, particularly the old ones. Indeed they are so low as to scarcely allow the baggage to clear, and in some cases actually rubbing against it. Every Bridge makes us bend double if seated on anything, and in many cases you have to lie on your back. The Man at the helm gives the word to the passengers: ‘Bridge,’ ‘very low Bridge,’ ‘the lowest in the Canal,’ as the case may be. Some serious accidents have happened for want of caution. A young English Woman met with her death a short time since, she having fallen asleep with her head upon a box, had her head crushed to pieces. Such things however do not often occur, and in general it affords amusement to the passengers who soon imitate the cry, and vary it with a command, such as ‘All Jackson men bow down.’ After such commands we find few aristocrats.”

Excerpt from a letter by Thomas S. Woodcock, a New York engraver, describing a trip on the Erie Canal between Schenectady and Buffalo in 1836, as found in New York to Niagara, 1836: The Journal of Thomas S. Woodcock, edited by Deoch Fulton, New York Public Library.

Questions:

1- According to the reading, what is an advantage of using the Erie Canal? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2- What does the author note about the bridges on the canal? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3- Discuss one tragic fact presented in the reading. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4- Discuss one humorous fact presented in the reading. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5- How does this primary source help historians? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What do you think is being celebrated in this illustration? How did you reach this conclusion? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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1- What cities are connected by the Erie Canal? ________________________________________________________________________