Editing Erie Canal (section)

===Conception===
[[File:DeWitt Clinton by Rembrandt Peale.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|''[[Portrait of DeWitt Clinton]]'' by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1823. Clinton was [[Governor of New York]] and a champion of the canal]]
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{{quote|From the days of the birchbark canoe, the early trade routes of the Northeast utilized New York's waterways. The Lake Champlain–Hudson River Route and the Lake Ontario–Oswego River–Mohawk River Route were utilized by Native Americans, fur traders, missionaries and colonizers. Fortification along these routes still stands as testimony to their importance in exploration, trade and settlement.
|author=Erie Canal Museum
|source = [http://eriecanalmuseum.org/history/ A Brief History of the Erie Canal]<ref name=ECmuseum>{{cite web | url = http://eriecanalmuseum.org/history/ | title =A Brief History of the Erie Canal| journal = Erie Canal Museum, 318 Erie Boulevard East, Syracuse, New York 13202}}</ref>
}}-->

Among the first attempts made by European colonists to improve upon the future state's navigable waterways was the construction in 1702 of the Wood Creek Carry, or [[Oneida Carry]] a short portage road connecting Wood Creek to the Mohawk River near modern-day [[Rome, New York]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Bernstein|first=Peter L.|author-link= Peter L. Bernstein|title=Wedding of the Waters|date=January 31, 2006 |publisher=
[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|page=57,83|isbn=0-393-32795-7}}</ref> However, the first documented instance of the idea of a canal to tie the East Coast to the new western settlements via New York's waterways was discussed as early as 1724: New York provincial official [[Cadwallader Colden]] made a passing reference (in a report on fur trading) to improving the natural waterways of western New York.<ref>{{cite book |last= Bernstein|first=Peter L.|author-link= Peter L. Bernstein|title=Wedding of the Waters|date=January 31, 2006 |publisher=
[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|page=49|isbn=0-393-32795-7}}</ref> Colden and subsequent figures in the history of the Erie Canal and its development would draw inspiration from other great works of the so-called "[[canal age]]," including France's [[Canal du Midi]] and the [[Bridgewater Canal]] in [[England]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Bernstein|first=Peter L.|author-link= Peter L. Bernstein|title=Wedding of the Waters|date=January 31, 2006 |publisher=
[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|page=118|isbn=0-393-32795-7}}</ref> The attempt in the 1780s by [[George Washington]] to build [[Patowmack Canal|a canal]] from the tidewaters of the [[Potomac River|Potomac]] into the fledgling nation's interior was also well known to the planners of the Erie Canal.<ref>{{cite book |last= Bernstein|first=Peter L.|author-link= Peter L. Bernstein|title=Wedding of the Waters|date=January 31, 2006 |publisher=
[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|page=86|isbn=0-393-32795-7}}</ref>

[[Gouverneur Morris]] and [[Elkanah Watson]] were early proponents of a canal along the [[Mohawk River]]. Their efforts led to the creation of the "Western and Northern Inland Lock Navigation Companies" in 1792, which took the first steps to improve navigation on the Mohawk and construct a canal between the Mohawk and Lake Ontario,<ref>Calhoun, Daniel Hovey. The American civil engineer: Origins and conflict. Technology Press, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1960.</ref> but it was soon discovered that private financing was insufficient. [[Christopher Colles]], who was familiar with the Bridgewater Canal, surveyed the Mohawk Valley, and made a presentation to the New York state legislature in 1784, proposing a shorter canal from [[Lake Ontario]]. The proposal drew attention and some action but was never implemented.<ref>{{cite book |last= Bernstein|first=Peter L.|author-link= Peter L. Bernstein|title=Wedding of the Waters|date=January 31, 2006 |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|page=81|isbn=0-393-32795-7}}</ref>

[[Jesse Hawley (merchant)|Jesse Hawley]] had envisioned encouraging the growing of large quantities of grain on the western New York plains (then largely unsettled) for sale on the [[East Coast of the United States|Eastern seaboard]]. However, he went [[bankrupt]] trying to ship grain to the coast. While in [[Canandaigua (city), New York|Canandaigua]] [[debtors' prison]], Hawley began pressing for the construction of a canal along the {{convert|90|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} Mohawk River valley.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Bernstein |first=Peter L. |title=Wedding of the waters: the Erie Canal and the making of a great nation |date=2005 |publisher=Norton |isbn=978-0-393-05233-6 |edition=1. |location=New York |pages=123}}</ref> Support for a canal also came from [[Joseph Ellicott]] (agent for the [[Holland Land Company]] in [[Batavia (city), New York|Batavia]]). Ellicott realized that a canal would add value to the land he was selling in the western part of the state and served as one of the original Canal Commissioners.<ref name=":0" />

New York legislators became interested in the possibility of building a canal across New York in the first decade of the 19th century. Shipping goods west from Albany was a costly and tedious affair; there was no railroad yet, and to cover the distance from Buffalo to New York City by stagecoach took two weeks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/erie-canal-opens|title=Erie Canal opens |date=2019-07-27|website=History |language=en|access-date=2019-11-10}}</ref> The problem was that the land rises about {{convert|600|ft|m}} from the Hudson to Lake Erie. Locks at the time could handle up to {{convert|12|ft|m}} of lift, so even with the heftiest [[cutting (transportation)|cuttings]] and [[viaduct]]s, fifty locks would be required along the {{convert|360|mi|km|adj=on}} canal. Such a canal would be expensive to build even with modern technology; in 1800, the expense was barely imaginable. President [[Thomas Jefferson]] called it "little short of madness" and rejected it.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Berkes |first1=Anna |title=Little short of madness...(Quotation) |url=https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/little-short-madnessquotation |website=Monticello.org |access-date=20 August 2019}}</ref>

Eventually, Hawley interested New York Governor [[DeWitt Clinton]] in the project. There was much opposition, and the project was ridiculed as "Clinton's folly" and "Clinton's ditch".<ref name=ECAsystem>[http://www.eriecanal.org/system.html The New York State Canal System], The Erie Canal Association.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://buffalonews.com/news/local/history/the-buffalo-of-yesteryear-how-clintons-folly-put-buffalo-on-the-map/article_762cf663-9fd7-5148-b3fc-cae63117aca1.html|title=The Buffalo of Yesteryear: How 'Clinton's Folly' put Buffalo on the map|work=Buffalo News|author=Luke Hammill|date=Jan 30, 2018}}</ref><ref name=TDIHhistChan>[http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/erie-canal-opens Erie Canal Opens], This Day in History: October 26, American HistoryChannel.com</ref><ref>Frank E. Sadowski Jr., [http://www.eriecanal.org/ "Clinton's Big Ditch"], The Erie Canal Association.</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=March 2021}} In 1817, though, Clinton received approval from the legislature for $7 million for construction.<ref name="Finch">{{Cite book |title=The Story of the New York State Canals |first=Roy G. |last=Finch |year=1925 |access-date=September 25, 2012 |publisher=New York State Engineer and Surveyor |url=http://www.canals.ny.gov/history/finch_history.pdf}}</ref>

[[File:1832 Erie Canal.jpg|thumb|center|upright=4.1|Profile of the original canal|alt=Elevation drawing of the canal's length]]