This is the story of American canals and the people who built them, a wonderful and rich slice of our history. Inspired by the canals of England and France, many Americans, from George Washington to DeWitt Clinton, dreamed of opening the Midwest through a similar system of water routes that would move both people and cargo. Beginning in the early nineteenth century, heroic efforts of engineering and construction began to fulfill those dreams. The greatest of the results and the central focus of this fascinating study is the Erie Canal, which was completed in the 1820s. Stretching from Albany to Buffalo, and connecting the Hudson River with the Great Lakes, it covered a distance of 363 miles through a system of 83 locks.For nearly forty years, before railroads became the dominant means of cargo transportation, canals had a profound effect on both the countryside and the people. New towns grew up along their banks while both raw and manufactured goods moved between them. The introduction of railroads, and later highways, followed roughly the same route as the Erie Canal, but bypassed the centers of many of the towns along the way. To travel the Erie today is to see that part of the country in a time warp. Russell Bourne's readable and evocative history follows it and other canals from their beginnings. It's a lively story of an era when people and goods floated west. Read Less