Erie Canal Page 1 of 2
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Erie Canal
The Erie Canal was the most famous and successful of Americ&s early towpath canals. The Erie Canal was able to breach the barrier of the Appalachian Mountains and link Lake Erie with the Hudson River. The Erie Canal was also an integral part of a larger system of New York state canals which bound together the Hudson River with Lake Champlain and the Canadian canals that flowed to the St. Lawrence River. Branches of this New York State Canal also linked the Finger Lakes and reached the Susquehanna River System.
The ancestor of the Erie Canal was the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company which was chartered by the New York State Legislature in 1792. The goal of this company was the creation of an uninterrupted water transportation route from The Hudson River to Lake Ontario by improving and linking the Mohawk River, Oneida Lake and the Oneida River. After experiencing immense technical and financial difficulties, the Western Inland Navigation company did create a one mile canal to by-pass the Little Falls of the Mohawk River. Although the company collected tolls for use of its canal, its revenue barely provided enough funds to keep its locks in working order.
Despite the limited success of the Western Inland Locks Navigation Company, many prominent commercial and political leaders began to call for the creation of a state built canal that would cross New York to link the Hudson river with Lake Erie. Foremost among them was DeWitt Clinton, a former mayor of New York City and nephew of George Clinton, the long term governor of New York State. His advocacy of what would become the Erie Canal won him election as Governor of New York in 1817. On July 4, 1817, ground was broken for the Erie Canal at a site near Rome, NY. Few present at this impressive ceremony realized the tremendous task that awaited the canal’s builders. The Erie Canal would be over 363 miles long and its builders would have to overcome rivers, swamps, and hills. Its channel would be 28 feet wide at the bottom and 40 feet wide at the top. The canal would have a uniform depth of 4 feet. The entire canal would have an ascent and descent of 675 feet which would be overcome through use of 83 locks. Eighteen aqueducts would carry the canal over rivers and large streams. Numerous bridges had to be built across the canal to accommodate roads and farms which were severed by the waterway.
The Erie Canal was build through the combined efforts of local laborers and Irish immigrants. They were each paid 800 per day for 10 to 12 hours of toil. Since no civilian engineering schools existed in the United States, during the years during which the Erie Canal was built, the Erie Canal was designed by men who learned on the job. The most important of these engineers were Benjamin Wright, James Geddes, Nathan Roberts, Canvass White, and John Bloomfield Jervis. Many of these individuals would later go on to build other canals and make important contributions to the development of American civil engineering. It was Canvass White who first manufactured hydraulic cement on this continent. Hydraulic cement was to become an essential part of canal and bridge construction since it would harden and bond under water. John Bloomfield Jervis developed key innovations that helped to make railroads Erie Canal Page 2 of 2 possible in much of the United States and he also created New York City’s famed Croton water supply system.
The Erie Canal was finished on November 4, 1825 when Governor DeWitt Clinton poured a keg of Lake Erie water into the New York Harbor. The Erie Canal soon became a great commercial success. Before the completion of the Erie Canal, it cost between $90 and $125 to ship a ton of cargo between Buffalo and New York City. Within the first ten years of the canal’s existence, the cost had dropped to $4 per ton. Within a year of the opening of the Erie Canal some 2,000 boats, 9,000 horses and 8,000 men were employed in the transportation of goods on the canal. Despite the later competition of railroads, the Erie Canal continued to be a great success. The Erie Canal made it possible for both New England and immigrant farmers to settle and develop the rich farmlands of the Mid-western states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. These farmers would send their crops to eastern markets via the canal and receive in return manufactured goods. Since much of this trade was centered at New York City, this seaport soon became America’s largest and most prosperous city.
The Erie Canal was enlarged between 1836 and 1862. After the completion of this enlargement. boats that could carry up to 250 tons of cargo rapidly replaced the earlier boats which could carry only 30 tons of goods. In 1868, the Erie Canal carried 3 million tons of freight. During 1882, all tolls were abolished on the New York State canals. To take advantage of changes in technology, the Erie Canal and the other major branches of the New York State Canal System were transformed into the Barge Canal System between 1903 and 1918. On this system, boats and barges were pushed or pulled by steam or diesel powered tug boats and the locks were operated by electricity. The New York State Barge Canal carried commercial traffic until 1994 when its relatively small size coupled with rising labor cost brought this traffic to an end. However, during the late 1990’s, the federal and state governments are spending millions of dollars to enhance and increase recreation use of the New York State Canal System.
For further information, read:
Andrist, Ralph K.; The Erie Canal; New York, NY: American Heritage, 1964.
Shaw. Ronald; Erie Water West; Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1996.
Sheriff, Carol; The Artificial River; New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 1996.
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By the time he was 40 Vanderbilt’swealth exceeded $500 000 but he still looked for new opportunities During the California gold rush of 1849, people traveled by boat to Panama, by land across the Isthmus on muleback, and onto steamers to the Pacific coast. Vanderbilt challenged the Pacific Steamship company by offering similar service via an overland route across Nicaragua, which saved 600 miles and cut the going price by half. This move netted him over $1 million a year. In the process he improved to some extent the channel of the San Juan River, built docks on the east and west coasts of Nicaragua and at Virgin Bay on Lake Nicaragua, and made a twelve-mile macadam road to his west coast port. He began construction of a fleet of eight new steamers and the route was two days shorter than that via Panama. He greatly reduced the New York-San Francisco passenger fare and garnered most of the traffic.
He made rnone so rapidly. that in 1853 he announced that he was going to take the first acation of his life He built a sumptuoush appomted steam yacht The North Star and embarked for a triumphal tour of Europe. Before going abroad. Vanderbilt resigned the presidency of the Accessory Transit Company. and committed its management to Charles Morgan and Cornelius Garrison. who, during his absence, manipulated the stock and secured control of the company. By shrewd buying he won atback in a few months. However, the Nicaraguan government rescinded the compan’s charter on the grounds that its terms had been disregarded, and issued a new charter to a rival group. He sold controlling interests to the Nicaragua Transit Company, which failed to pay him. In a famous incident. he told them that the law was too slow; rather, he would ruin them. He did this in just two years by running another group of steamers.
In the 1850’she dabbled in the Atlantic carrying trade competition for passenger service between New York and France with the Cunard and Collins lines He built three vessels one of which, the Vanderbilt was the largest and finest he had vet constructed. It as an unprofitable enture. however, and at the beginning of the civil War he sold his Atlantic line for $3 million lie retained the \anderbHt which he fitted tip as a warship and turned over to the government. It has been claimed that he intended only to make a loan of the vessel, hut it was interpreted as a gilt
Vanderbilt liked making money more than spending it. One of the few purchases he was willing to make was his Staten island mansion, the only place he felt truly comfortable, The New York City elite snubbed him, saying he was a rich but hopelessly vulgar man.
Nearing the age of 70, Vanderbilt decided once again that the wave of the future was in another direction -- building a railroad empire. He first acquired the New York and Harlem Railroad, in the process again defeating Daniel Drew. He next acquired the rundown Hudson River Railroad. which Cornelius wanted to consolidate with the Harlem. Again Drew attempted to sell the stock short, defeat the consolidation, and make a substantial profit But, as before, the Commodore won the battle by buying every share Drew sold. thereby stabilizing the price
Vanderbilt acquired the Central Railroad in 1867 merged it with the Hudson River Railroad b legislati.e act, and leased the Harlem to the new company. He spent large sums of mone improving the lines’efficiency and then increased the capital stock by $42 million (which was a stockwatering operation of magnitude) and paid large dividends. in the first five years, he is said to have cleared $25 million.
Vanderbilt finally hit a snag in 1867 when he attempted to gain control of the Erie Railroad, then in the hands of his old adversary, Daniel Drew. Again Vanderbilt bought all the stock offered for sale, but this
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“The Father of American Education”,” Horace Mann, was born in Franklin, Massachusetts, in 1796. Mann’s schooling consisted only of brief and erratic periods of eight to ten weeks a year. Mann educated himself by reading ponderous volumes from the Franklin Town Library. This self education, combined with the fruits of a brief period of study with an intinerant school master, was sufficient to gain him admission to the sophomore class of Brown University in 1816” (4, Cremin). He went on to study law at Litchfield Law School and finally received admission to the bar in 1823 (15, Filler). In the year 1827 Mann won a seat in the state legislature and in 1833 ran for State Senate and won.” Throughout these years Horace Mann maintained a thriving law practice, first in Dedham and later in Boston” (5, Cremin).
“Of the many causes dear to Mann’s heart, non was closer than the education of the people. He held a keen interest in school policy. April 20, 1837, Mann left his law practice and accepted the post of the newly founded Secretary of Education” (6, Cremin). During his years as Secretary of Education Mann published twelve annual reports on aspects of his work and programs, and the integral relationship between education, freedom, and Republican government. He wanted a school that would be available and equal for all, part of the birth-right of every American child, to be for rich and poor alike. Mann had found “social harmony” to be his primary goal of the school. (8, Cremin).
Horace Mann felt that a common school would be the “great equalizer.” Poverty would most assuredly disappear as a broadened popular intelligence tapped new treasures of natural and material wealth. He felt that through education crime would decline sharply as would a host of moral vices like violence and fraud. In sum, there was no end to the social good which might be derived from a common school (8, Cremin).
“What is most important about Mann’s view of the common school is that he saw in it an educational purpose truly common to all” (12, Cremin). As Secretary of the Board of Education, Mann presided over the establishment of the first public normal school in the United States at Lexington in 1839. Mann also reinvigorated the 1827 law establishing high schools, and fifty high schools were created during his tenure. He also persuaded the Massachusetts legislature to establish a six month minimum school year in 1839 (15, Filler). Mann also led the movement to set up teacher institutions throughout the state (21, Cremin).
In 1848 Mann resigned as Secretary of Education and went on to the U.S. House of Representatives and then took the post of President of Antioch College in 1852. He stayed at the college until his death in August 27, 1859. Two months before that he had given his own valedictory in a final address to the graduating class; “I beseech you to treasure up in your hearts these my parting words: Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for Humanity” (27, Cremin).
Mann had won his victory as the public school soon stood as one of the characteristic features of American life - A “wellspring” of freedom and a “ladder of opportunity” for millions.
Works Cited
Cremin, Lawrence A. The Republic and the School: Horace Mann On the Education of Free Men. New York: Teachers College, 1957.