A Staircase of Water: The Erie Canal

A Staircase of Water: The Erie Canal

1In the early 1800s, the young United States had a big problem. Farmers in western New York grew wheat and raised animals, but they lived far from the cities on the Atlantic coast. Between them lay forests, hills, and rivers. Most goods traveled by wagon, and the roads were rough and muddy. Moving heavy loads that way took a long time and cost a great deal of money.

2Some leaders came up with a bold idea: dig a canal. A canal is a waterway made by people. This one would connect the Hudson River, which flows toward the Atlantic Ocean, with Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes. Boats could then carry goods across the state on calm water. Work began in 1817. Crews dug the long channel mostly by hand, using shovels, picks, and wheelbarrows, with help from horses and oxen. Many of the workers had recently arrived in the United States from other countries.

3The builders faced an obstacle: land is not flat. Lake Erie sits much higher than the Hudson River, and the ground rises and falls along the way. Boats cannot sail uphill on their own. The engineers solved this problem with locks. A lock is a watertight chamber with a gate at each end. It works like a staircase for boats, lifting them up or lowering them down to the next level of the canal.

4Here is how a lock raises a boat. First, the boat floats into the chamber, and the lower gate closes behind it. Next, workers open small doors called valves in the upper gate. Water from the higher part of the canal flows into the chamber. Slowly, the water level rises, and the boat rises with it. When the water in the chamber is as high as the water ahead, the upper gate opens, and the boat moves on. To go downhill, the steps are reversed, and water drains out until the boat sinks to the lower level.

5No pumps are needed, because of gravity. Gravity pulls water downhill, so water flows from the higher level into the chamber on its own. Mules or horses pulled the boats while walking on a towpath, a path beside the canal. A long rope joined the animals to the boat. A mule could pull a heavy boat, because the water carried most of the weight.

6The Erie Canal opened in 1825, and it changed the country. Shipping goods by canal boat cost much less than shipping them by wagon. Farmers in the west could sell their wheat in eastern cities, and people in the east could buy goods from the west. New York City grew into a leading port. Towns along the canal, such as Rochester, Syracuse, and Buffalo, grew into bustling cities, crowded with boats, workers, and shoppers.

7The canal also helped settlers travel west, and soon other states dug canals of their own. Later, railroads took over much of the work of moving goods. Still, the Erie Canal remains a great example of how clever engineering can solve a hard problem.