"Two hundred years ago, the Erie Canal was finally completed, and to celebrate the achievement, the Governor of New York and other local elected officials engaged in a progressive celebration. They sailed from Lake Erie to New York Harbor with stops at communities along the way. It was like a 10-day tailgate with parties, speeches and all-day public celebrations, and it culminated in a ceremonial "wedding of the waters" when water from Lake Erie was poured into New York Harbor."
"Like most large, visionary projects there is always the first "idea man" who sees the potential and possibility and then sets out to make the vision real. In this case, the man was flour merchant, Jesse Hawley, who realized, while in debtor's prison, that if the farmlands in the western portions of his state could access an Atlantic port, they would have new markets for their produce."
The Erie Canal reached completion two hundred years ago and was celebrated with a multi-stop ceremonial voyage from Lake Erie to New York Harbor, ending in a symbolic "wedding of the waters." The canal's realization was not inevitable and began with limited support despite its large regional economic implications. Jesse Hawley conceived the canal idea while in debtor's prison, seeing market opportunities for western farmlands if they could reach an Atlantic port. Early American transportation relied on rivers and slow, costly pack-animal overland routes. European engineers had solved similar problems with canals, but larger American canal projects faced steep expense barriers.
Read at Alabama Political Reporter
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