Which canal was completed first, the Erie Canal or the Carondelet Canal?
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.
Erie Canal Commission The New York State Legislature appointed in 1810 a Commission to Explore a Route for a Canal to Lake Erie, and Report which became known as the Erie Canal Commission. Before 1817, the reports were submitted by the Commissioners Appointed to Provide for the Improvement of the Internal Navigation of the State, from February 1817 on the actual term Canal Commission was used, and its members titled officially Canal Commissioner. Besides, in 1817 a Canal Fund and Commissioners of the Canal Fund, and in 1826 a Canal Board, of which both the Canal Commissioners and the Commissioners of the Canal Fund were members, were created, and the term Canal Commission was applied sometimes to any of these bodies.