The Erie Canal. An amazing feat.

As we left Niagara Falls we took a short detour through Lockport, NY. before continuing on to Vermont.  The Erie Canal had always fascinated me and my knowledge of it was limited to a song I learned in elementary school (you know, "...15 miles on the Erie Canal...").

The State of New York had wanted to become a major shipping port in the 1800's and the key was inland transportation of trade goods (furs, lumber, coal, etc) and supplies (fabrics, manufactured items, etc.)  Shipping goods to and from the Great Lakes by water would  give them that status, but portaging (unloading the boat and carrying everything, including the boat) as required to get around the various rapids and waterfalls was so labor intensive it made shipment by water impractical. Transporting by land in wagons was an option, but it was too slow.  A navigable water route would cut the shipping costs by about 95 per cent and establish New York City as a major trading port.  

Between 1817 and 1825 the 363 mile canal was dug primarily by hand and horses with a little bit of help from dynamite and steam engines.  Most of the manpower was provided by farmers along the route who were hired as laborers.  

At Lockport a "Flight of Five" locks was constructed. There were five locks for moving traffic upstream and five more for moving traffic downstream.

The old locks are still there and scheduled to be restored. 

During a  canal enlargement project from 1909 to 1918 two newer locks  replaced the old ones, but only on one side. The two new locks were able to do the work of both flights of five old locks and allowed larger vessels to pass through. 

Heck, today we would talk about it for eight years, spend eight more years doing environmental impact studies, eight years debating it in Congress, and another eight years of actual work.