Western farmers could send goods down the Hudson River, cheaper an faster. the canal reached as far as from Albany, on the Hudson River, to Buffalo, at Lake Erie.
Q. How does the geographic location of New York State make it a natural link for trade between New England?
Answer: “The Erie Canal was first opened in 1825. It was significant because it connected Lake Erie and the Great Lakes system to the Hudson River, and thereby gave the western states direct access to the Atlantic Ocean without shipping goods downstream on the Mississippi River to New Orleans.”
Table of Contents
- Q. How does the geographic location of New York State make it a natural link for trade between New England?
- Q. Why are most of the cities in New York state located on the Erie Canal?
- Q. What made travel across New York using water cheaper and easier?
- Q. What are locks and how did they work on the Erie Canal?
- Q. What is unique about the Lockport Locks *?
- Q. How does a lock in a canal work?
- Q. How do you use a lock on a canal?
- Q. What is the benefit of a canal lock?
- Q. Who built the first canal lock?
- Q. Which is the oldest canal in England?
- Q. Where was the first river lock?
- Q. What if there was no Panama Canal?
Q. Why are most of the cities in New York state located on the Erie Canal?
The completion of the Erie Canal spurred the first great westward movement of American settlers, gave access to the rich land and resources west of the Appalachians and made New York the preeminent commercial city in the United States.
| Erie Canal | |
|---|---|
| Geography | |
| Start point | Hudson River near Albany, New York (42.7834°N 73.6767°W) |
| End point | Niagara River near Buffalo, New York (43.0237°N 78.8901°W) |
| Branch(es) | Oswego Canal, Cayuga–Seneca Canal |
Q. What made travel across New York using water cheaper and easier?
Q. What are locks and how did they work on the Erie Canal?
Erie Canal locks consist of two sets of Miter-V gates to form the chamber and contain the water , underground tunnels for the water to flow in or out and tunnel valves (they resemble guillotines) to open or shut the water flow through the tunnels. The lock chamber and floor is made of concrete.
Q. What is unique about the Lockport Locks *?
Lockport is home to Locks 35 and 34, the two western-most locks on the Erie Canal. The pair of locks raise and lower boats a total of 49 feet up and down the Niagara Escarpment.
Q. How does a lock in a canal work?
For a boat to go up through a canal lock, the following sequence occurs: With the gates opened, the boat can enter the lock. The lower gates and bottom sluice are closed. The top sluices are then opened so that the water level rises in the lock, floating the boat up to the next level.
Q. How do you use a lock on a canal?
Simply put, you go into the lock when it is nearly empty, fill it up and then cruise out the other end. This lifts the boat up to a higher canal level, or if going the other way lowers the boat down to a lower level if you are letting water out of the lock.
Q. What is the benefit of a canal lock?
Locks are used to make a river more easily navigable, or to allow a canal to cross land that is not level. Later canals used more and larger locks to allow a more direct route to be taken.
Q. Who built the first canal lock?
Leonardo da Vinci’s
Q. Which is the oldest canal in England?
Fossdyke Navigation
Q. Where was the first river lock?
But the earliest of any size was the flight at Runcorn which brought the Duke’s Canal down to the River Mersey and was constructed in 1773. However, the chamber lock had been around for centuries before its general use in England. The first chamber lock was built around 1452 on the Canal de Bereguardo, near Milan.
Q. What if there was no Panama Canal?
If there were no locks in the Panama canal, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans couldn’t flow into each other, because there are hills in between. The tropical marine life of each ocean, at either end, consists almost entirely of different species.
