How did the Erie Canal modify the environment?
Canal success however, transformed and “affected the environment not only directly, but also by fostering population growth and production for the market.” In order to provide fuel to operate the steamboats on the Hudson that transported the western and interior goods to the port in New York City (as well as brought …
What were the effects of the Erie Canal?
The Impact of the Erie Canal The Erie Canal was built from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. It improved the economy in some cities in New York such as Buffalo Lockport, and Rochester. It lead New York to industrialization. It decreased the cost of transporting goods.
What were two impacts of the Erie Canal?
The Erie Canal was then proposed and created as an efficient transportation lane, lowering the cost of shipping and increasing trade, spreading machinery and manufactured goods, making the United States more economically independent and establishing some of the country’s most prominent cities.
How did the Erie Canal impact the geography of the North?
The Erie Canal opened up a waterway for the transportation of trade goods from the Midwest region of the United States to New York City and beyond. The geography of New York state made it possible to carve this canal route through the Mohawk Valley and between groups of mountains to the north and south.
What killed the Erie Canal?
The waterway today referred to as the Erie Canal is quite different from the nineteenth-century Erie Canal. More than half of the original Erie Canal was destroyed or abandoned during construction of the New York State Barge Canal in the early 20th century.
Did blacks build the Erie Canal?
Lemmey points out that slavery was not yet abolished in New York during the construction of the Erie Canal, from 1817 to 1825. It ended in the state in 1827. She says that slaves and free blacks living in New York at the time were among those who built the waterway.
How did the Erie Canal benefit the US?
The completion of the Erie Canal spurred the first great westward movement of American settlers, gave access to the rich land and resources west of the Appalachians and made New York the preeminent commercial city in the United States. The effect of the Canal was both immediate and dramatic, and settlers poured west.
How did the Erie Canal affect slavery?
The Erie Canal linked the regions of the U.S. that had abolished slavery by the 1820s, helping their economies. In addition, the people who settled the upper midwest were generally either religious New Englanders or immigrants, neither of which were groups that tended to practice slavery.
How did people use rivers in early American society?
People followed waterways, from canals to great rivers, to build businesses, communities, and new lives. The Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and other rivers knit together the American nation over the course of a century. Waterways were so valuable that the nation began building them.
What were some of the benefits to enlarging the canal in 1836?
The first enlargement began in 1836, rerouting parts of the Canal and widening it to seventy feet while deepening it to seven feet. Locks were doubled to allow simultaneous two-way passage and extended in length to enable passage for larger boats.