New York .State 01 



the land to the next stream. After clearings had been made, crude 

 roads were gradually opened for the passage of teams and wagons. 



Soon after the Revolution a road following the old Indian trail 

 was opened from near Utica to Canandaigua, and emigration set 

 in toward the western part of the state. This road was after- 

 ward continued to Buffalo, and is now an excellent state road. 



Fulton's invention of the steamboat in 1807 at once made the 

 rivers our chief highways; and, since produce could not be profit- 

 ably marketed, sections remote from the principal streams devel- 

 oped but slowly. Then came the War of 1812, during which set- 

 tlement was checked. At its close both state and private funds 

 were sent to aid the ruined frontier settlements as a response to 

 the first wide appeal for charity in New York State. 



In 1816 the " Ridge road " was opened, and a long, slender line 

 of settlements sprang up across the counties on the south shore of 

 Lake Ontario. Increasing demands for improved transportation 

 led to the building of the Champlain and Erie canals, which were 

 completed in 1823 and 1825, respectively. The growth of villages 

 all along the canals received a remarkable impetus, and farm 

 products in western Xew York doubled in value. 



As an evidence of the rapidity with which the Erie Canal was 

 brought into use and of the great change in transportation wrought 

 by it, particularly with respect to freight, it may be stated that 

 the number of canal boats arriving in Albany during the season of 

 1823 was 1,329; in 1824 it was 2,687; and by 1826 it had 

 increased to about 7.000. The effect of the canal on farming was 

 marked by a gradual change in the products to which farmers 

 gave the most of their attention. The easterly route for marketing 

 western products now being open, eastern farmers found it neces- 

 sary to turn their attention to the raising of crops not so much 

 affected by western competition. 



Close on the completion of canals followed the building of rail- 

 roads, the first being finished in 1831 between Albany and Schen- 

 ectady. This was the second railroad in the United States, 

 South Carolina having completed a six-mile road a year previous. 

 Within the next twenty years the Erie Railroad was built, fol- 

 lowed closely by the New York Central, thus connecting Lake 

 Erie with the ocean by rail as well as by the great canal. 



