Editing Erie Canal (section)

===Construction===
[[File:NYmohawk-ErieCanalRexford.JPG|thumb|right|Aqueduct over the [[Mohawk River]] at [[Rexford, New York|Rexford]], one of 32 [[navigable aqueduct]]s on the Erie Canal|alt=Black-and-white photo of aqueduct over curve in canal]]
[[File:Erie Lock4083.jpg|thumb|right|Stonework of lock abandoned because of route change, at [[Durhamville, New York]]]]
[[File:ErieCanalAtNiagaraEscarp.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|An original five-step lock structure crossing the [[Niagara Escarpment]] at [[Lockport (city), New York|Lockport]], now without gates and used as a cascade for excess water]]
The original canal was {{convert|363|mi|km}} long, from Albany on the Hudson to Buffalo on Lake Erie. The channel was cut {{convert|40|ft|m}} wide and {{convert|4|ft|m}} deep, with removed soil piled on the downhill side to form a walkway known as a [[towpath]].<ref name="Finch"/> Its construction, through [[limestone]] and mountains, proved a daunting task. To move earth, animals pulled a "slip scraper" (similar to a [[bulldozer]]). The sides of the canal were lined with stone set in clay, and the bottom was also lined with clay. The Canal was built by Irish laborers and German stonemasons.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}  All labor on the canal depended upon human and animal power or the force of water. Engineering techniques developed during its construction included the building of [[aqueduct (bridge)|aqueducts]] to redirect water; one aqueduct was {{convert|950|ft}} long to span {{convert|800|ft}} of river. As the canal progressed, the crews and engineers working on the project developed expertise and became a skilled labor force.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

The men who planned and oversaw construction were novices as [[Surveying|surveyors]] and as [[engineers]]. There were no [[civil engineer]]s in the United States.<ref name="ReferenceA">Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation, Peter L. Bernstein</ref> [[James Geddes (engineer)|James Geddes]] and [[Benjamin Wright (civil engineer)|Benjamin Wright]], who laid out the route, were [[judge]]s whose experience in surveying was in settling [[boundary dispute]]s. Geddes had only used a [[surveying equipment|surveying instrument]] for a few hours before his work on the Canal.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> [[Canvass White]] was a 27-year-old amateur engineer who persuaded Clinton to let him go to Britain at his own expense to study the canal system there. Nathan Roberts was a [[Mathematics education|mathematics teacher]] and [[land speculator]]. Yet these men "carried the Erie Canal up the Niagara escarpment at [[Lockport (city), New York|Lockport]], maneuvered it onto a towering embankment to cross over [[Irondequoit Creek]], spanned the [[Genesee River]] on an awesome [[navigable aqueduct|aqueduct]], and carved a route for it out of the solid rock between [[Little Falls (city), New York|Little Falls]] and [[Schenectady]]—and all of those venturesome designs worked precisely as planned".<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Construction began on July 4, 1817, at [[Rome, New York]]. The first {{convert|15|mi}}, from [[Rome, New York|Rome]] to [[Utica, New York|Utica]], opened in 1819. At that rate, the canal would not be finished for 30 years. The main delays were caused by felling trees to clear a path through [[virgin forest]] and moving excavated soil, which took longer than expected, but the builders devised ways to solve these problems. To fell a tree, they threw rope over the top branches and winched it down. They pulled out the stumps with an innovative [[Stump harvesting|stump puller]]. Two huge wheels were mounted loose on the ends of an axle. A third wheel, slightly smaller than the others, was fixed to the center of the axle. A chain was wrapped around the axle and hooked to the stump. A rope was wrapped around the center wheel and hooked to a team of oxen. The [[mechanical advantage]] (torque) obtained ripped the stumps out of the soil. Soil to be moved was shoveled into large wheelbarrows that were dumped into mule-pulled carts. Using a scraper and a plow, a three-man team with oxen, horses and mules could build a mile in a year.<ref name = "Hunter 1991">{{cite book|title=A History of Industrial Power in the United States, 1730–1930, Vol. 3: The Transmission of Power |last=Hunter |first=Louis C. |author2=Bryant, Lynwood |year=1991 |publisher=MIT Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts, London |isbn=978-0-262-08198-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OrFHAAAAYAAJ }}</ref>

The remaining problem was finding labor; increased [[immigration]] helped fill the need. Many of the laborers working on the canal were [[Irish people|Irish]], who had recently come to the United States as a group of about 5,000. Most of them were Roman Catholic, a religion that [[Anti-Catholicism in the United States|raised much suspicion in early America]] because of its hierarchic structure, and many laborers on the canal suffered violent assault as the result of misjudgment and [[xenophobia]].<ref name="Sheriff" />{{rp|52}}

Construction continued at an increased rate as new workers arrived. When the canal reached [[Montezuma Marsh]] (at the outlet of [[Cayuga Lake]] west of [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]]), it was rumored that over 1,000 workers died of "swamp fever" (malaria), and construction was temporarily stopped.<ref>{{cite book |author=Gerard Koeppel |title=Bond of Union: Building the Erie Canal and the American Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iZfDpibTwjQC&pg=PT212 |year=2009 |publisher=Da Capo Press |pages=212–13|isbn=9780786745449 }}</ref> However, recent research has revealed that the death toll was likely much lower, as no contemporary reports mention significant worker mortality, and mass graves from the period have never been found in the area.<ref>{{cite book |author=Andrew Kitzmann |title=Postcard History Series:Erie Canal |isbn=978-0738562001 |year=2009 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |page=71}}</ref> Work continued on the downhill side towards the Hudson, and the crews worked on the section across the swampland when it froze in winter.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

The middle section from Utica to [[Salina, New York|Salina]] (Syracuse) was completed in 1820, and traffic on that section started up immediately. Expansion to the east and west proceeded simultaneously, and the whole eastern section, {{convert|250|mi|km}} from [[Brockport, New York|Brockport]] to Albany, opened on September 10, 1823, to great fanfare.<ref>{{Cite web|title=1825 Erie Canal Opened|url=https://www.historycentral.com/Ant/Eirie.html|access-date=2021-04-16|website=History Central}}</ref> The [[Champlain Canal]], a separate but connected {{convert|64|mi|km|adj=on}} north–south route from [[Watervliet, New York|Watervliet]] on the Hudson to [[Lake Champlain]], opened on the same date.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

After Montezuma Marsh, the next difficulties were crossing Irondequoit Creek and the Genesee River near Rochester. The former ultimately required building the {{convert|1320|ft|m|adj=on}} long "Great Embankment", to carry the canal at a height of {{convert|76|ft|m}} above the level of the creek, which ran through a {{convert|245|ft|m|adj=on}} culvert underneath.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Farley |first1=Doug |title=ERIE CANAL DISCOVERY: The great embankment |url=http://www.lockportjournal.com/archives/erie-canal-discovery-the-great-embankment/article_578b842a-7da5-5642-b343-35943298f552.html |access-date=May 12, 2015 |work=Lockport Union-Sun & Journal |date=September 18, 2007}}</ref> The canal crossed the river on a stone aqueduct, {{convert|802|ft|m}} long and {{convert|17|ft|m}} wide, supported by 11 arches.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Genesee River Aqueduct |url=http://eriecanal.org/Rochester-2.html |website=The Erie Canal |publisher=Monroe County Library System |access-date=May 12, 2015}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=March 2021}}

In 1823 construction reached the [[Niagara Escarpment]], an {{convert|80|ft|m|adj=on}}-high wall of hard [[Dolomite (mineral)|dolomitic]] [[limestone]]. The route followed the channel of a creek that had cut a ravine steeply down the escarpment. The construction and operation of two sets of five locks along a {{convert|3|mi|adj=on}} corridor soon gave rise to the community of [[Lockport (city), New York|Lockport]]. The {{convert|12|ft|m|adj=on}} lift-locks had a total lift of {{convert|60|ft|m}}, exiting into a deeply cut channel. The final leg had to be cut {{convert|30|ft|m}} deep through another limestone mass, the [[Onondaga (geological formation)|Onondaga ridge]]. Much of that section was blasted with [[black powder]], and the inexperience of the crews often led to accidents, and sometimes to rocks falling on nearby homes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor :: History and Culture |url=https://eriecanalway.org/learn/history-culture |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=eriecanalway.org}}</ref>

Two villages competed to be the terminus: [[Black Rock, New York|Black Rock]], on the [[Niagara River]], and Buffalo, at the eastern tip of Lake Erie. Buffalo expended great energy to widen and deepen [[Buffalo River (New York)|Buffalo Creek]] to make it navigable and to create a harbor at its mouth. Buffalo won over Black Rock, and grew into a large city, eventually annexing its former rival.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zimmermann |first=Bill |date=2007-04-13 |title=On This Day in 1853, Black Rock Annexed by Buffalo: Forty Year Rivalry Ends |url=https://www.buffalorising.com/2007/04/on-this-day-in-1853-black-rock-annexed-by-buffalo-forty-year-rivalry-ends/ |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=Buffalo Rising |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Black Rock |url=https://buffaloah.com/h/br/brfox/index.html |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=buffaloah.com}}</ref>