What Canal allows a navigable water route from New York City to the Great Lakes and was created shortly after Blackstone River Valley?
Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park is a National Park Service unit in the states of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The park was created for the purpose of preserving, protecting, and interpreting the industrial heritage of the Blackstone River Valley and the urban, rural, and agricultural landscape of that region. The Blackstone River Valley was the site of some of the earliest successful textile mills in the United States, and these mills contributed significantly to the earliest American Industrial Revolution. The subsequent construction of the Blackstone Canal, a few years after the successful completion of the Erie Canal, helped to sustain the region's industrial strength.
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.