Prior to the construction of the Erie Canal, most of the United States population remained ... By providing a direct water route to the Midwest, the canal triggered ... Before the opening of the Erie Canal, New Orleans had been the only port city with an ... “The Erie Canal really made New York City,” Kelly says.The Erie Canal is a 363-mile waterway that connects the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River in upstate New York. The channel ... The channel, which traverses New York state from Albany to Buffalo on Lake Erie, was considered an engineering marvel when it first opened in 1825.
