Editing Erie Canal (section)

===Railroad competition===
[[File:Water Level Route on US map cropped.png|thumb|Map of the "Water Level Routes" of the [[New York Central Railroad]] (purple), [[West Shore Railroad]] (red) and Erie Canal (blue)]]
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The [[Mohawk and Hudson Railroad]] opened in 1837, providing a bypass to the slowest part of the canal between Albany and Schenectady. Other railroads were soon chartered and built to continue the line west to Buffalo, and in 1842 a continuous line (which later became the [[New York Central Railroad]] and its [[Auburn and Syracuse Railroad#Auburn road|Auburn Road]] in 1853) was open the whole way to Buffalo. As the railroad served the same general route as the canal, but provided for faster travel, passengers soon switched to it. However, as late as 1852, the canal carried thirteen times more freight tonnage than all the railroads in New York State combined. The [[New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railway]] was completed in 1884, as a route running closely parallel to both the canal and the New York Central Railroad. However, it went bankrupt and was acquired the next year by the New York Central.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} 

In 1880s, the canal was struggling to remain competitive with the railroads.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erie Canal |url=https://buffaloah.com/h/erieC/percy/percy.html |access-date=2025-05-16 |website=buffaloah.com}}</ref> The NY State Legislature passed an amendment to the state constitution allowing for the end of toll on the canal in 1881 and 1882. In 1882, the amendment was approved by voters, and on  January 1, 1883 the new amendment went into effect, ending the charging of tolls along the NY State canals.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Whitford |first=Noble E. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015006087442&seq=356&q1=1882 |title=History of the Canal System of the State of New York Together with Brief Histories of the Canals of the United States and Canada |publisher=Brandow Printing Company |year=1906 |location=Albany, NY |pages=316}}</ref>