What Canal allows a navigable water route from New York City to the Great Lakes and was created shortly after Blackstone River Valley?
Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a canal in New York that is part of the east–west, cross-state route of the New York State Canal System (formerly known as the New York State Barge Canal). Originally, it ran 363 mi from Albany, on the Hudson River, to Buffalo, at Lake Erie. It was built to create a navigable water route from New York City and the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. When completed in 1825, it was the second longest canal in the world (after the Grand Canal in China) and greatly affected the development and economy of New York, New York City, and the United States.
Swan River (New York) The Swan River flows south from Swan Lake into the mouth of Patchogue Bay, Long Island, New York, which then becomes the Great South Bay. Originally however, the headwaters reached as far north as Medford, New York, near the vicinity of Medford Station. Swan River is a relatively clean, cold, free flowing, freshwater stream, generally less than 15 feet wide, with a sandy substrate. This segment of the river flows through much undeveloped forested wetland, but has also been encroached upon by residential development, road construction, and a commercial sand mining operation. Below Montauk Highway, the river is tidal, and is bordered by undeveloped marshland and limited development of boat docking facilities. The fish and wildlife habitat encompasses the entire river, including an approximate one and one-half mile tidal segment, and an approximate two and one-half mile freshwater segment, which extends from Swan Lake, above Montauk Highway, to the headwaters of the stream, above Swan Lake, flowing southward into Patchogue Bay.