On July 4, 1817, a shovel full of dirt, dug in Rome, marked the start of the original Erie Canal. It was officially completed ...

Construction began in 1817, and soon Benjamin Wright ... The greatest challenge was elevation: Lake Erie, the canal’s western terminus, is more than 570 feet above sea level.

Beyond the Appalachian Mountain chain, there's untapped natural resources, and in order to tap into that, the Erie Canal is seen as an answer. And starting in 1817 through 1825, they kept adding ...

In 1819, after building three sections of the Erie Canal, Joseph Miller decided to purchase 102 acres of land from Jacob and ...