Thanks to the Erie Canal for spreading people, ideas and bacteria in America.

200 years ago, it took two weeks to get from Albany to Buffalo. Because of the rugged terrain and high transportation cost, businessmen have to fight against ox carts. But on July 4th, 18 17, construction began, which will change this long journey and the American Commodity Exchange forever. Eight years later, the Erie Canal was opened, and it took only five days to drive between the two cities, and the freight rate dropped by 90%. We celebrate the canal, thousands of workers work on it, millions of people walk along the river, and we relive the history of the canal. From the corridor of ideas to the hot spots of disease transmission, the canal has left a deep imprint on American history.

The canal is nicknamed "Clinton ditch"

This project was the idea of new york Mayor and Governor Devit Clinton, who established the public school system there. It was in this second role that Clinton got the money to build the canal because the federal government repeatedly refused. This canal is regarded as an absurd and expensive gamble, and is nicknamed "Clinton ditch". In fact, Thomas Jefferson said, "It's crazy to talk about building a 350-mile canal in the wilderness."

But thanks to the new york legislature, this $7 million project (more than today's $65.438+04 billion) was funded, and the ten-year cost was paid off within a few years.

This was the most ambitious project at that time.

The new waterway was dug in forests, fields, rocks and swamps. It is 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide. A series of 83 shiplocks helped level the terrain once accessible only to slow-moving trucks. After eight years of construction, the Erie Canal spans 363 miles inland in new york, connecting the Great Lakes and the Hudson River, and is the longest artificial waterway in North America.

Need innovation and patience

Although Clinton raised money for the Erie Canal, he lacked basic knowledge, including professional engineers and building materials. But this special project has brought the best pioneers. People invented underwater hardening hydraulic cement; A pile puller can let a team of people and horses clean up 30 to 40 stumps every day; There is also an endless spiral device that can make people fall from trees. Due to the lack of basic supplies, the collapse of the canal in just eight years is even more impressive.

This is a water pipeline on the Erie Canal. Before the Erie Canal was built, it made new york an important city.

New york is not the city we know today. In terms of trade and transportation, ports such as Philadelphia, New Orleans and Baltimore rank higher than new york. But thanks to the Erie Canal, shipping between the Midwest and new york made Empire City a commercial center. Eliza Williams, a politician, even described the canal as "the golden river that flows into the new york circle". He was right.

The canal has completely changed tourism.

Consumer goods and agricultural products are not the only commodities flowing from the midwest to the east coast on the Erie Canal. Consumers will also go there to ride horses. In the first year of the canal's opening, more than 40,000 people took cruise ships. These captains are 60 to 80 feet long and 65,438+04 feet wide. The central cabin is used as a dining room, kitchen, bedroom and lounge. Before the steam engine became the source of ship travel, parcels were pulled by mules. Passengers often sit on the top of the boat and bow their heads when driving under the low bridge.

Help transfer immigrants to the mainland. ...

Many immigrants, many of them from Ireland, came to the mainland through their work on the canal. But tourists from Europe, Asia and Canada are also heading west on this folded waterway. The Erie Canal has more immigrants westward than any other trans-Appalachian canal, which makes Buffalo (its western hub) a major immigration port. By the beginning of the 20th century