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About the Erie Canal

Begun in 1817 and completed in 1825, the Erie Canal had a major impact on Michigans settlement. The canal, only four feet deep and forty-two feet wide, crossed upstate New York, linking the Hudson River with Lake Eriea distance of 363 miles. For the first time, New England families, anxious to settle the fertile lands of the Midwest, had an easy way to move west. As important, the canal brought huge savings in shipping costs to manu-facturers who previously had transported goods overland to the Mississippi Valley. Passengers traveled on flat-boats pulled by horses that walked along the edge of the canal. Barges traveled around two miles an hour and cost the passengers about a penny every two miles. When the barges reached Buffalo, New Yorkthe western end of the canalpassengers boarded steamboats for the three-day journey to Detroit. From there, they headed inland to settle the Michigan wilderness.

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