Information about the Erie Canal

A direct effect of the Erie Canal was that the population of new york City began to surge. 1820, the population of new york is123,700, and the population of Philadelphia is 1 12000. At 1860, these two numbers become 1 080 330 and 565 529. Equally surprising is the rapid development of new york as a port city: in 1800, only about 9% of foreign goods from the United States entered the United States through new york Port, and by 1860, this proportion had jumped to 62%.

The opening of the Erie Canal has made new york an economic and financial center to some extent. A canal changed the fate of a city and created the history of a country. The Erie Canal connects the five lakes in Dalian in series, which greatly reduces the direct transportation time and cost between the commercial town represented by new york and the traditional agricultural area in the west. Take advantage of new york's natural harbor, open up the eastern and western parts of the United States, and make American agricultural products sell well all over the world with the help of waterways connected with the world.

The establishment of new york's position indirectly led to the gradual establishment of Wall Street's position. The Erie Canal played an important role. background

The success of the bridgewater Canal in Manchester, England, after the completion of 176 1 brought a boom in canal construction to Britain at the end of18th century, because the canal provided an easy-to-control navigation environment, which not only made the transportation of goods safer, but also accelerated the transportation speed. Since the United States began to expand to the west, it has acquired many new territories, and these new territories in the west are in urgent need of a vehicle that can quickly carry a large number of goods to connect the big cities on the east coast. At that time, there were many privately built toll roads connecting the Hudson Valley with western New York. However, these roads cannot provide high-quality and efficient transportation, and users have to pay high tolls. For example, 18 14, it costs two yuan to transport a bucket of flour to 130 by land, but only 25 cents to transport the same thing to 160 by water.

The original proposal was that in 1724, Cavalade Colden proposed to build a canal to connect many rivers and lakes from upstate New York to western New York, mainly using the Mowak River. Colden's proposal was mainly to break through the monopoly of the French on the inland fur trade in the midwest of North America. Because the French owned Louisiana, they indirectly controlled the Mississippi River, which was the only passage from the Midwest to the Great Lakes at that time. If the United States can't open up a transportation route to the inland, then the lucrative fur trade in the Midwest will be controlled by France forever. But then the war with Indian tribes shelved Corden's proposal.

Besides the Erie Canal, there are other attempts to reach the west. In 1785, George Washington began a series of renovations on the Potomac River, making it a usable river. Later, he spent a lot of manpower and material resources to build the Patomac Canal, but the canal was never opened after the completion of 15. 1784, Christopher Colles proposed to the new York state legislature to build a canal to connect the rivers and lakes between Albany and Lake Ontario based on his understanding of Bridgewater Canal and his evaluation of Mowak Valley. Although this suggestion was noticed by everyone and supported by others, it was not implemented in the end.

In addition to Coase, Elkanah Watson was also an early supporter of the canal construction in the Mowak Valley. He believes that the United States cannot take the European model of "building towns first, then building canals", but must play the American model of "building canals first, then developing towns", because canals can magically and instantly turn "vast wilderness into fertile land". His efforts eventually led to the establishment of the Western Inland Shipping Company, which was the first organization to improve the shipping of the Mowak River. However, due to the huge financial pressure of this plan and the competition of other means of transportation, the western inland shipping company was finally forced to withdraw from the stage of building the canal across New York State.

Due to the limitation of funds, non-governmental organizations can only improve the existing rivers and lakes. However, after these private organizations failed because of technical difficulties and inability to bear the cost of building waterways connecting rivers and lakes, the last units capable of building canals were the New York State Government and the federal government.

plan

Among many people who put forward the idea of building a canal, the only one who pushed for the construction of the Erie Canal was Jesse Holly. 1805, Hua Li, who knew nothing about the canal, planned to plant grain in upstate New York, which was empty at that time, and transported the harvested grain to the east coast market by convenient transportation, but went bankrupt because of financial problems when trying various transportation methods. While avoiding creditors, he came up with the idea of building a canal and began to plan to build a canal through the Mowak Valley in his mind [9]. Huali's plan attracted the attention of the public and the government, and it was strongly supported by the local real estate developer Joseph Ellicott, because Elliot knew that the opening of a canal would increase the value of the land he sold. 1808 The capital of New York originally planned two routes, one is from Oneida Lake near Syracuse to Lake Ontario, and the other is from Genesee River near Rochester to Buffalo to connect with Lake Erie. However, because the Ontario route will face the competition from the French-controlled St. Lawrence River (which flows through Quebec, Canada) and will be threatened by Britain in wartime, the Lake Erie route will not only have no competition and war threat, but also increase the land value and population in western New York State. When the construction cost of the two lines is almost the same, the route of Lake Erie is finally determined.

The change of public attitude towards the construction of the canal is not simply influenced by a few people. The transformation from obscurity to support is mainly influenced by the western development and the federal government's transportation policy. At first, New York's westward expansion was hindered before the middle of the18th century, because the Mohawk Valley was inhabited by the Iroquois, the most powerful Indian tribe in the American continent. The population of new york has exploded from 73,448 in 1.749 to 1.8 10/.790959049. The population of new york is mainly concentrated in the Hudson Valley from new york City to Albany. The pressure of population growth has promoted the demand for new land, which is consistent with the obstruction of the Indians in the Mowak Valley. With the migration of population, the population on the south bank of Lake Ontario in new york increased rapidly in the18th century. By the19th century, the increase of large population centers in western New York strengthened the demand for routes connecting Lake Erie. Because of these factors, the local people began to support the plan to build the canal. 1807, the United States federal government began to provide various construction funds. This is because after decades of peace, the US Treasury is abundant, and then US President Thomas Jefferson decided to use this money to improve domestic education and various constructions. Although this money has not been allocated to new york, the state capital, because of the outbreak of the 18 12 war, it is still a great impetus after the canal plan was put forward. However, the Erie Canal itself also provides a very big incentive; It is located between the two major economic zones in the United States that need transportation, and there are also a large number of economic needs in towns and cities along the canal.

Mohawk River, a tributary of the upper reaches of Hudson River, flows through the channel left by glaciers during the Ice Age and crosses the northern part of Apara Ridge, dividing new york into Catskill and Adirondack. The Mowak Valley is the only river that crosses the Apara Ridge in northern Alabama. Almost from the west of the Hudson River, an important river at that time, it is divided into two lakes, Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Starting from the west of the Mowak River, you can cross many newly established towns in the western hinterland of New York. The construction of the canal is facing great difficulties. From the Hudson River in Albany to Lake Erie, the Erie Canal must climb to 65,438+083 meters (600 feet). If we want to overcome this altitude, we must install 50 locks on the 580 km (360 miles) canal. Even in the 2nd1century, this project needs huge funds, but in the 9th century, this project can only be described as unimaginable. Thomas Jefferson, then president of the United States, once called the project "almost crazy". He thought the Erie Canal project was very impractical and infeasible, so he refused to support it. [15] However, Huali was later successfully supported by Dewit Clinton, the governor of New York. Although many people don't agree that the construction of the canal can bring benefits to new york, opponents everywhere block the passage of the canal construction bill, calling the Erie Canal Project "Dewit's stupid plan" or "Dewit's small ditch", etc., but Clinton is in 188. [ 16]

The design of the Erie Canal is to excavate a waterway with a width of 65,438+02 meters (40 feet) and a depth of 65,438+0.2 meters (4 feet), and pile the excavated soil on the downhill side of the canal embankment for planning as a canal sidewalk. In the design, the barge with the width of1.07m (3.5ft) will be pulled by horses walking along the river, and the horses will be replaced at fixed points. The walls of the canal are designed to be covered with stones and the bottom with clay. This huge stone building required the introduction of hundreds of German masons, who later built many famous buildings in new york after the completion of the canal.

build

The construction project started in Rome, new york on July 4th, 18 17, but the construction committee knew that this was only a difficult beginning [17]. The construction of the Erie Canal is controlled by a five-member building committee. The original members were Dwight Clinton, Stephen Van Rensler, Joseph Ellicot, Miron Holly and sam young.

Because there were no qualified civil engineers in America at that time, all the design and supervision were done by inexperienced people. The route of the canal was decided by James Geddes and Ben Ming Jie Wright, but they were both judges, not engineers. Their only experience in land surveying comes from surveying when judging land boundary disputes, while Goethe only practiced using surveying instruments for a few hours. [19] However, many talents came to help. Canvass White, a 27-year-old amateur engineer, persuaded New York Governor Clinton to study the canal system in Britain at his own expense, and later made cement that can be solidified underwater at 18 18 [20]; Nathan S. Roberds, a math teacher and land investor, also joined the construction project. John jervis joined as an ignorant young man at the age of 22. Eight years later, he became the chief engineer of Delaware and Hudson Canal, designed the aqueduct in new york City, and later became a railway engineer [2 1]. The mob successfully "crossed the Niagara Cliff near Lockport, meandered through Irondequoit Creek, built a diversion canal connecting the Genesee River, and dug a river on the hard rock between the Waterfall and Snekott City; And all the construction projects are almost as planned. "