What Was The Erie Canal
The Erie Canal, or the Great Western Canal as it was initially known, was one of the most important state projects of the early years of the United States. It proved to be overwhelmingly succcessful and its success prompted other state economic development projects.
Before the Erie Canal was built New York City was not the premier port of the United States that it became. Philadelphia was the largest, most prosperous city of the new United States. The Erie Canal provided the base for New York City's rise.
The United States had to great water transportation systems: the Mississippi-Missouri-Ohio River System and the Great Lakes Water System. These two were linked through the agency of the city of Chicago. The outlet to the sea of the Great …show more content…
For a short period the state government tried to protect the financial interests of the canals by prohibiting the railroads from carrying cargo, but this absurd restriction was soon lifted. In 1853 the New York Central Railroad was created by the consolidation of several smaller railroads.
The Erie Canal Enlargement program was completed in 1862. The toll charges not only paid for the construction of the canal but brought in a surplus which covered a substanial portion of the New York State budget. In 1882 the toll charges for the Erie Canal were eliminated.
In 1895 a second enlargement program for the Erie Canal was initiated. It called for a deepening of the canal to nine feet and was known as The Nine Million Dollar Improvement . But work on this second enlargement program was stopped in 1898 due to a lack of funds. The canals were losing the transport business to railroads because of the superior service which the railroads provided. The railroads were faster and operated year around while the canal were out of service for five months of the year due to their being …show more content…
The social impacts were also extraordinary. Some of them were not obvious. The availability of a wider variety of goods was one of the obvious impacts. The newspapers settled upon the availability of fresh oysters from the Atlantic Coast as the best illustration of this. Fresh oysters were not available in upstate New York before the canal system because land transportation was too slow as well as too expensive to get oysters there before they spoiled. There were many, many commodities that were unavailable inland when the only mode of transport was horse and
Before the Erie Canal was built New York City was not the premier port of the United States that it became. Philadelphia was the largest, most prosperous city of the new United States. The Erie Canal provided the base for New York City's rise.
The United States had to great water transportation systems: the Mississippi-Missouri-Ohio River System and the Great Lakes Water System. These two were linked through the agency of the city of Chicago. The outlet to the sea of the Great …show more content…
For a short period the state government tried to protect the financial interests of the canals by prohibiting the railroads from carrying cargo, but this absurd restriction was soon lifted. In 1853 the New York Central Railroad was created by the consolidation of several smaller railroads.
The Erie Canal Enlargement program was completed in 1862. The toll charges not only paid for the construction of the canal but brought in a surplus which covered a substanial portion of the New York State budget. In 1882 the toll charges for the Erie Canal were eliminated.
In 1895 a second enlargement program for the Erie Canal was initiated. It called for a deepening of the canal to nine feet and was known as The Nine Million Dollar Improvement . But work on this second enlargement program was stopped in 1898 due to a lack of funds. The canals were losing the transport business to railroads because of the superior service which the railroads provided. The railroads were faster and operated year around while the canal were out of service for five months of the year due to their being …show more content…
The social impacts were also extraordinary. Some of them were not obvious. The availability of a wider variety of goods was one of the obvious impacts. The newspapers settled upon the availability of fresh oysters from the Atlantic Coast as the best illustration of this. Fresh oysters were not available in upstate New York before the canal system because land transportation was too slow as well as too expensive to get oysters there before they spoiled. There were many, many commodities that were unavailable inland when the only mode of transport was horse and