Canal was a profitable route. Tolls were abolished in 1882, however, because of its state of disrepair and to lure more traffic. Although some improvements were made (1884-94), inadequate navigability, the competition of Canadian routes, and the disclosure of fraudulent administration (the "Canal Ring") brought about plans for complete renovation and subsequent conversion (1905-18) into a large, modern barge canal. Unlike the original canal, the revamped waterway incorporated canalized rivers and lakes in the waterway; parallel sections of the old Erie Canal were abandoned.
Much tonnage was still shipped via the canal in the 1950s, but the opening of the New York State Thruway and the St. Lawrence Seaway sealed the canal's commercial demise. Traffic in the late 20th cent. consisted almost entirely of pleasure boats, and a five-year overhaul in the late 1990s was undertaken to make the canal a major "recreationway." Commercial interest in the highly fuel-efficient waterway was renewed some in 2008 when energy costs soared to record highs.
See R. K. Andrist, The Erie Canal (1964); G. E. Condon, Stars in the Water (1973); R. Shaw Erie Water West (1996); C. Carol, The Artificial River (1996); P. L. Bernstein, Wedding of the Waters (2005).
Historic waterway, northern U.S. It stretches from Buffalo, N.Y., on Lake Erie to Albany, N.Y., on the Hudson River. Commissioned by Gov. DeWitt Clinton of New York, it opened in 1825. It connected the Great Lakes with New York City and contributed greatly to the settlement of the Midwest, allowing for the transport of people and supplies. Enlarged several times, the canal is 363 mi (584 km) long, 150 ft (46 m) wide, and 12 ft (3.6 m) deep. Now used mainly for pleasure boating, it is part of the New York State Canal System.
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Gouverneur Morris and Elkanah Watson were other early proponents of a canal along the Mohawk. Their efforts led to creation of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, which took the first actual steps to improve navigation on the Mohawk. But the company proved that private financing was inadequate.
In 1798 the Niagara Canal Company was incorporated.
The advocate who finally got the Canal built was entrepreneur Jesse Hawley. He envisioned growing huge quantities of grain in the upstate New York plains, then largely unsettled, for sale on the Eastern Seaboard. But he went bankrupt trying to ship it to the coast. While in Canandaigua debtors' prison, he started pressing for the construction of a canal along the Mohawk valley.He had strong support from Joseph Ellicott, agent for the Holland Land Company in Batavia. Ellicott realized that a canal would add immense value to the land he was selling in the western part of the state. Ellicott later became the first canal commissioner.
The Mohawk River, a tributary to the Hudson, runs in a glacial meltwater channel across the northern reaches of the Appalachians, separating them in New York State into the Catskills and Adirondacks. The Mohawk Valley was the only cut across the Appalachians north of Alabama, and led almost directly from the Hudson River on the east to either Lake Ontario or Lake Erie on the west. From there much of the interior and many settlements would be accessible on the lakes.
The problem was that the land rises about from the Hudson to Lake Erie. Locks at the time could handle up to , so at least 50 locks would be required along the canal. Any such canal would cost a fortune even today, but in 1800 was barely imaginable. President Jefferson, called it "a little short of madness" and rejected it. Nevertheless Hawley managed to interest New York governor DeWitt Clinton. There was much opposition, and the project was scorned as "Clinton's Folly," or "Clinton's Ditch." But in 1817, Clinton got the legislature to appropriate $7,000,000 for construction.
The original Canal was long, from Albany on the Hudson to Buffalo, on Lake Erie. The channel was a cut wide and deep, with removed soil piled on the downhill side to form a walkway. Canal boats, u