Westward Expansion
Erie Canal By Jaymi Dickinson
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction..... Start of the Erie....
3
4-5
Were the Erie went.....
5-6
The finish of the Erie Canal.....
7-8
History of people that helped..... Interesting facts.....
9-10
11-12
Final Conclusion.....
13-14
Glossary
15
Citations
16
Did You Know? Did you know that the people that built the Erie Canal only got payed 50 cents each day? WESTWARD EXPANSION
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Introduction I'm going to write about the Erie Canal. I thought that from the information I've gathered that the Erie Canal was really interesting and I hope that I will be able to convince you that it is very interesting too. The Erie Canal is a thing where people can transport goods to many places. All other information you will find later in other chapters includes, who disagreed with the building of it, when it started and ended, engineers and other information. I have made it my goal that you will understand and enjoy my presentation. I not only hope that, I hope many other things including that you will share this information. I thought this westward expansion was really interesting and I hope you will too. Enjoy!
The Erie Canal took many many years to be built but was successful and helped people get more stuff transported west.
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Chapter 1 Start of the Erie
The Erie Canal all started in the 1800's. Back then people didn't have cars, and railroads were just starting to pop up.Things we could use to transport now a days were not in the 1800's. Since railroads were coming up they were growing fast but some people like the government were looking for some other way to transport things. After a while some people began to realize that canals could be the answer to their idea. So in 1816 they quickly made a plan to have the Erie Canal constructed. Even though many people disagreed with making the Erie Canal like president James Monroe, the New York legislation group made a plan to have it constructed. They decided that it would be paid off by tolls. Tolls are a fee where people lets say use a bridge to do a delivery they have to pay to get across it. Even though many people of importance were against the plan nothing stopped the New York legislation group from having the plan succeed. When the plan was first mentioned it was in 1785 it got shut down. Then when mentioned again in 1816 many people agreed and decided on its use and what they would use to pay it. WESTWARD EXPANSION
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Chapter 2 Where the Erie Went The Erie Canal was made for transporting goods but they wanted it to be grand. So they wanted it to go far. In that case they had to chose how far it went and where. I thought that this decision was smart because they decided to take the route that had most lakes and river. For that reason they brought it through New York City to Hudson River near Troy. Then from Troy it would join other cities in New York such as Rome, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo. Then on Lake Erie goods would be transported to the Canal to the Great Lakes. The goods that would be shipped anywhere around the Great Lakes through New York City. That's why I thought they were smart because they built it through many places with water so they could just connect it with other lakes, rivers and other water uses. This project to the people that built it was very hard but they got plenty of breaks and other needs. This project took hard work and a lot of effort so when they chose the people that would help construct it, they choose wisely.
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When they choose where the Canal would lead to, Governor Dewitt Clinton ejected it right away and tried to convince many people that they could just have a railroad go through the places that the New York legislation group choose. But none of the legislation group and a lot of the public wanted to stop this plan. It took many people to build the Erie Canal.(probably over 10,000 people) Think of it as a cause and effect, the Erie Canal was going to be built across the west, effect is you could all the sudden ship stuff across the west if all went well. That's why all these people wanted it built, they wanted more land, more of the world.
Erie Canals first shipment The Erie Canal was very busy but was a break through with people coming and none of them really going so the legislation group of New York had their hands full with finding people to work there. Surprisingly Dewitt Clinton was the first one to sail on boat across the Canal and it took him 10 days to do it.
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Chapter 3 The Finish of the Erie Canal The Erie Canal took many many long years and I'll tell you, I don't even think one single person gave up or slowed down their speed because I think most of them wanted to get it over with and get home to their families or get out of there. I would sure want to get it over if I were them too. It took the Erie eight years and three months to complete. I was surprised and I thought that they did a great job at building it and what surprised me the most is that they only used shovels and pick axes (and a bit of explosive energy) to get through mountains and some through forests. The Erie Canal started in 1817 July 4 and was finally finished 1825 October 25 (almost to November or to a new year) This was a celebration to the public for sure because now they could expand and ship things across the west, and for many other shipping companies it was a party for them too because more land, more shipping and that means more money for them. Then after it was finished governor Dewitt had many complaints and that was bad for the New York legislation group.
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He got much of the public to complain too but they were shut down luckily by the rest of the public. After the Erie was finished many of the workers including many of the engineers retired from an eight year work. I don't blame them. To me they worked as hard as they could and the engineers (Benjamin Wright, Canvass White and Amos Eaton) did a fine job of engineering the project. The Erie Canal was 524 miles long and as it said earlier 517 feet above sea level, which is really tall!!! The Erie Canal was raging with people who wanted to use it so the New York legislation group were very busy which slowed down things that were happening around New York and stuff that needed to be fixed around them, which caused many people (other than the people that wanted to ship stuff across the Erie) to get angry or complain about what they thought needed to be done to help New York.
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In this picture there is a grain boat transporting all farming goods across the Erie. !8
Chapter 4 People that were of importance to making the Erie Many people helped the Erie Canal to be successful but every worker, engineer and who was part of making or helping the Erie helped, and some in many different ways. When the Erie was first mentioned as you may know it was shut down. But when railroads were mentioned it was a total blow out. Everyone wanted only railroads but there were complaints coming from people that first they needed more coal miners and people to build so many of the legislation group thought "why not just build one big thing instead of a bunch of little things?" That's when it all started. Many people said "well we can make more money while they're making one railroad, then when they're done we probably will have raised enough for another" so the idea of the big thing was then drifting off in space. Then let's think of it like a spaceship picked it up and yet again it was brought back down to earth, like the idea was brought up again. So then when it was brought up people thought well who is going to engineer it and so Benjamin Wright stood up and started making ideas for it. WESTWARD EXPANSION
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So then when he finished his idea for what it would look like, all the locks in 1814, he went and planned a meeting with some of the legislation group to see if his grand idea would be approved, and he was successful with his goal. The New York legislation owner approved of what he had requested and also asked if Canvass White and Amos Eaton would gladly see if his blue prints would be able to be put into the Erie Canal. So pretty much this is now when all the people decided all the things like where the Erie went and stuff like that. So now they know what they are going to use for blueprints on making the Erie, but they needed to make sure it was safe and pay of the water. This was going to be a challenge. So then they had to see who would pay it off. Would it be many people? Would it only be the people that built it or would they raise money to pay it? Then James Monroe requested a meeting with the legislation group. Of course this was a shock to the New York legislation group because they had shut him down and said that they would build it because he complained that the Erie was being built. So then they met up with him and he requested an idea for who would pay for the Erie Canal. He said that the people who would build it should pay for it. But the legislation group caught on. They knew that the people that built it were probably going to build it for money and if they said that the people who built it would pay for it no one would help build it. So they choose tolls after the original owner of the group gave them an idea. WESTWARD EXPANSION
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CHAPTER 5 Interesting Facts In addition to all the information I have gathered, there is still more information like the height of the Erie, the Erie's length and other information that will be given in this chapter. The Erie is amazingly tall and long. Now many people would ask them self if they're standing right in front of the Erie " how long is this thing, how tall, and is it safe?" but that's just what you would think. Many people have different questions like, what was their plan for the Erie and what did they mainly make it for because now many people don't use the Erie and just use the post office and air planes but back then everyone knew what it was used for. The Erie Canal is 524 miles long and 517 feet above sea level which is almost as high as 20 buses stacked on top of each other. The Erie Canal's length is 40 feet wide, a sperm whale. Which I would think would be really hard to turn into people. Many people that shipped things across the Erie were amazed by how large this Canal was and explained the beauty of the trip across it. The Erie's first use was on May 17, 1821 after security checked to make sure if it was safe as requested 3 times which took them 4 years.
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That's exactly why on May 17 it was it's first use. When Erie Canal opened there was a celebration it felt like with so much traffic going there and many people on the streets. At that "celebration"there was a lot of people celebrating the opening which pleased the legislation group a lot. Many of these people were there for many hours asking questions or people were asking them questions. There also were many reporters and cameras taking fotos and the reporters would transfer many of the information they gathered to the journalists who would put the information onto newspapers. That's how it became even more popular because all the people across New York and even different places said "let's move there, we could make a lot more money shipping stuff". So that's when many other people came to New York and the New York legislation group got back on track with the other stuff that was needed. The Erie Canal had over 15,000 people shipping stuff a month when it first opened and over 100,000 a year! In this picture the Erie Canal was just finishing being built but people were still allowed to ship stuff across it. The Erie Canal cost 7,000,000 dollars which is not much now but was a lot back then but the money in there also counted for who built it so not only how much it cost to build it but also, paying the workers. WESTWARD EXPANSION
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The Erie Canal was grand, bold, it really was a hit. Of course it didn't stop new inventions to be invented or stop time so it wouldn't be "thrown out the back door" so like every other old "toy" it eventually died down. So that date was 1872 when the magic that the Erie Canal had... went away and never came back. But the Erie still was a hit then and continued being a part of the Westward Expansion and people make projects (like mine), books, and other things. So you can never say that the Erie Canal was something that didn't help people... because it helped expand the west.
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Final Conclusion
Now I deeply hope and desire that you or whoever is reading this has enjoyed and has been inspired by this peace of writing and hopefully has learned a thing or two about the Erie Canal from the Westward Expansion. I hope that there is at least three things that you were surprised about and one thing that actually surprised me was that the people that built the Erie only used simple shovels or pick axes to get through mountains and rivers. I hope that some of those chapters surprised you that made you tell your friend or family. It was amazing to learn and write about this amazing Westward Expansion and I hope someday you will enjoy it too. Thank you.
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I hope you liked my piece of writing!
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Glossary
Tolls
Tolls are people that use things for transportation.
Blueprints
Blueprints are papers that people put their ideas on.
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Citations
Information
mrnussbaum.com Erie Canal en.m.wikipedia.org Erie Canal
Images Erie Canal being built Erie Canal being used Erie Canal Tolls Blueprint
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Interesting fact Did you know that many people thought that railroads were not that good after the Erie Canal was built and most of them said that railroads were just bad for the environment?
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Jaymi Dickinson
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