THE NEW TRANSPORTATION. 127 



The most important step in the construction of a system of 

 interstate and local communication by water was the build- 

 ing of the Erie Canal through the state of New York, con- 

 necting the whole upper chain of Great Lakes with the Hud- 

 son River, and so with the sea. The Oswego Canal con- 

 nects Lake Ontario with the Erie, and the Champlain connects 

 Lake Champlain with the navigable waters of the Hudson. 

 The Erie was 350 miles long, and as first built, 4 feet deep, 

 floating boats of 80 tons capacity, to accommodate which also 

 its locks were built. A towpath ran along the whole length 

 of all canals in those days, since animal power was the only 

 means of moving the canal craft. For this purpose mules 

 were usually employed. They were hitched tandem, and drew 

 the boat by means of a hawser. Before the opening of the 

 canal, freight had been carried by wagon from Albany to 

 Buffalo for $88 per ton. The canal carried it for $22.50 at 

 first, afterwards for $6.50, and still later the tolls were abol- 

 ished entirely. Before their abolition, however, they had 

 more than paid for the construction of the canal. 



From the moment of its opening the Erie Canal and its 

 feeders had been a popular success. It was soon taxed to its 

 limit and agitation was commenced for its enlargement. It 

 was proposed so to deepen it and to enlarge its locks as to 

 increase its possible tonnage by threefold, so that whereas 

 it formerly accommodated boats of 80 tons burden, it would, 

 in its new form, accommodate boats of 240 tons. The work 

 of enlargement was begun in 1836, but two factors entered 

 to delay it and the undertaking was not completed for thirty 

 years. The first of these factors was the financial catastro- 

 phe which fell upon the country in 1837, and the second was 

 the advent of a hitherto unheard-of means of freight and 



