How did you get involved with history and specifically the Erie Canal?
It's probably genetic. My mother's parents operated a boat livery and bait shop from their house on the banks of the Oswego Canal (a branch of the Erie in central New York). Visiting grandma usually included time hanging out at the locks with my cousins and sometimes hitching rides on tugboats as they pushed barges through. My dad grew up near the Erie Canal in the Mohawk Valley and I spent my early years within walking distance of the old canal outside Syracuse. Interest in history grew from that but formal training came later. I majored in Geography as an undergraduate, then went on to get a Masters and PhD. in the History of Technology. Working for the National Park Service and Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor means that I can repeat many of the activities of my misspent youth and call it work. [Not a bad gig.]
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What do you believe to be the most important lasting effect of the Erie Canal?
The Erie Canal shaped the human landscape of eastern North America. It made New York City the young nation's principal seaport and commercial center, opened the Midwest to settlement, commercial agriculture, manufacturing, and urbanization, and spurred the growth of port cities around the upper Great Lakes including Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Green Bay, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Duluth.
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What did it take to convince the New York State assembly to build such an ambitious project?
Economic self-interest (although not everyone was convinced at the outset).
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How was New York State able to maintain the canal in the 1800s with its limited resources?
Tolls paid for cargo shipped on the canal repaid the cost of construction less than ten years after the canal opened and continued to pay for operation and upkeep until 1882 when tolls were abolished. During the mid 19th century, canal tolls and fees paid for salt made from brine pumped from state-owned wells near Syracuse were the state government's principal sources of revenue.
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How did the American people view the Erie Canal when it was first being built? Did these views change over time?
There were skeptics who called it Clinton's Ditch or Clinton's Folly, deriding both the canal and Governor DeWitt Clinton, the canal's principal proponent. President Thomas Jefferson called plans to build such an ambitious waterway "little short of madness" when New Yorkers requested federal funds to help defray the costs of construction in 1808. Attitudes changed dramatically as the project neared completion. The canal became the thing to see and a source of pride for New York and the nation. Completion of the Erie prompted a boom in canal construction over the next 25 years as other seaport cities and states reached to build their own waterways and protect their internal commerce.
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How important was the canal in the cultural shaping of America?
The Erie Canal was a big part of America's cultural identity during the first half of the 19th century. Images of the locks at Lockport, Cohoes Falls, and other canal features appeared on popular prints, pottery, and furniture. The canal was one of the principal routes between New York and Niagara Falls for Europeans making the "Grand Tour". Their writings helped shape the image of this new nation both here and abroad.
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Do you think the Erie Canal had an impact on the extensive amount of public works projects in the 1940's?
The Erie Canal was the prototype for large scale public works in America, built by governments for the general good. There were a couple earlier examples but none on such a large scale of with such lasting impact.
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How would America be different without the Erie Canal?
Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Norfolk might be the principal seaport and commercial center. The Midwest would have stronger commercial and cultural ties with the south than the east coast. Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin would have developed at a far slower pace than they did.
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Is there any other information you would like to add about the Erie Canal
It's probably genetic. My mother's parents operated a boat livery and bait shop from their house on the banks of the Oswego Canal (a branch of the Erie in central New York). Visiting grandma usually included time hanging out at the locks with my cousins and sometimes hitching rides on tugboats as they pushed barges through. My dad grew up near the Erie Canal in the Mohawk Valley and I spent my early years within walking distance of the old canal outside Syracuse. Interest in history grew from that but formal training came later. I majored in Geography as an undergraduate, then went on to get a Masters and PhD. in the History of Technology. Working for the National Park Service and Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor means that I can repeat many of the activities of my misspent youth and call it work. [Not a bad gig.]
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
What do you believe to be the most important lasting effect of the Erie Canal?
The Erie Canal shaped the human landscape of eastern North America. It made New York City the young nation's principal seaport and commercial center, opened the Midwest to settlement, commercial agriculture, manufacturing, and urbanization, and spurred the growth of port cities around the upper Great Lakes including Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Green Bay, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Duluth.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
What did it take to convince the New York State assembly to build such an ambitious project?
Economic self-interest (although not everyone was convinced at the outset).
__________________________________________________________________________________
How was New York State able to maintain the canal in the 1800s with its limited resources?
Tolls paid for cargo shipped on the canal repaid the cost of construction less than ten years after the canal opened and continued to pay for operation and upkeep until 1882 when tolls were abolished. During the mid 19th century, canal tolls and fees paid for salt made from brine pumped from state-owned wells near Syracuse were the state government's principal sources of revenue.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
How did the American people view the Erie Canal when it was first being built? Did these views change over time?
There were skeptics who called it Clinton's Ditch or Clinton's Folly, deriding both the canal and Governor DeWitt Clinton, the canal's principal proponent. President Thomas Jefferson called plans to build such an ambitious waterway "little short of madness" when New Yorkers requested federal funds to help defray the costs of construction in 1808. Attitudes changed dramatically as the project neared completion. The canal became the thing to see and a source of pride for New York and the nation. Completion of the Erie prompted a boom in canal construction over the next 25 years as other seaport cities and states reached to build their own waterways and protect their internal commerce.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
How important was the canal in the cultural shaping of America?
The Erie Canal was a big part of America's cultural identity during the first half of the 19th century. Images of the locks at Lockport, Cohoes Falls, and other canal features appeared on popular prints, pottery, and furniture. The canal was one of the principal routes between New York and Niagara Falls for Europeans making the "Grand Tour". Their writings helped shape the image of this new nation both here and abroad.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Do you think the Erie Canal had an impact on the extensive amount of public works projects in the 1940's?
The Erie Canal was the prototype for large scale public works in America, built by governments for the general good. There were a couple earlier examples but none on such a large scale of with such lasting impact.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
How would America be different without the Erie Canal?
Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Norfolk might be the principal seaport and commercial center. The Midwest would have stronger commercial and cultural ties with the south than the east coast. Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin would have developed at a far slower pace than they did.
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Is there any other information you would like to add about the Erie Canal
- The Erie Canal and the connecting Champlain, Oswego, and Cayuga-Seneca canals are still in service today after 192 years of continuous operation. You can still take a boat from the Atlantic Ocean to the upper Great Lakes by way of the Erie Canal. [A surprising number of people don't realize that.]
- The Erie Canal takes advantage of the only gap in the Appalachian Mountain chain between Georgia and Labrador. That gap is at the Hudson Highlands north of Peekskill. Geologically, the beginning of the canal near Albany is on the other side of the mountains. The 572' difference in elevation between tidewater at Albany and Lake Erie at Buffalo was certainly a challenge to overcome, but it was far less than any of the alternatives. New York's topography, with the tidal Hudson estuary extending 150 miles north from New York harbor, straight through the mountain range, the Mohawk River, and a fairly flat glacial lake plain beyond, provided advantages that no other state possessed. Railroads and later highways followed the same lowland corridor.