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Erie Canal Bold Kids

If you want to know more about the Erie Canal, you've come to the right place. Learn more about this historical canal and its importance in upstate New York. This canal was completed in 1825 and is the first navigable waterway from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. It made it possible to move goods and people from one region to the next without incurring the high costs associated with moving across the Appalachian Mountains. Construction on the canal required human power. Horses and man power helped unearth the rocky terrain. Irish, German, and British laborers were paid $1 a day to shovel dirt. They were also assisted by masons who lined the canal's banks with stone. Teams of animals were also used to pull scrapers. Some workers were even given whiskey strategically placed upstream, as a distraction. Farmers in western New York and the Midwest could now buy consumer goods, as well as ship their harvests to lucrative East Coast markets. The new route for the Erie Canal begins in Rome, New York. The new canal crosses Wood Creek and does not connect to the previous route. The previous canal route ran through Oswego and Oneida Lake. Erie Canal Facts
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