| The Erie Canal was the first important
national waterway built in the US. It crossed New York from Buffalo on Lake Erie
Troy to Albany on the Hudson River. It joined the Great Lakes with the Atlantic
Ocean. The canal served as a route over which industrial goods could flow into
the west, and materials could pour into the east. The Erie Canal helped New York
develop into the nation's largest city. The building of the canal was paid for entirely by the state of New York. It cost $7,143,789, but it soon gained its price many times over. Between 1825, when the canal was opened, and 1882, when toll charges(过运河费) were stopped, the state collected $121,461,891. For a hundred years before the Erie was built, people had been talking about a canal which could join the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. The man who planned the Erie Canal and carried the plan through was De Witt Clinton. Those who were against the canal laughingly called it "Clinton's Ditch(沟)". Clinton talked and wrote about the canal and drew up plans for it. He and Governor Morris went to Washington in 1812 to ask for help for the canal, but they were unsuccessful. Clinton became governor of New York in 1817, and shortly afterwards, on July 4, 1817, broke ground for the canal in Rome, N.Y. The first part of the canal was completed in 1820. As the canal grew, towns along its course developed fast. The length of the canal is 363 miles. |