ERIE CANAL, connecting the Hudson river at Albany and Troy with lake Erie at Buffalo, is 363 m. in length. It was begun in 1817, and completed in 1825, at a cost of $7,602,000. Its construction is due chiefly to the foresight and energy of De Witt Clin ton, and while it was in progress it was often ridiculed by self-complacent skeptics as " Clinton's big ditch." The enterprise was undertaken and carried through by the state of New York, Clinton being governor during nearly all the period of its progress. As its route lay chiefly through an uninhabited wilderness, it opened for settlement an immense territory. It was subsequently enlarged, and is now 70 ft. broad at the sur face, and 56 ft. at the bottom, with a depth of 7 feet. The locks, 72 in number, 57 of which are double, and 15 single, are 110 ft. long and 18 ft. wide. It is carried by great stone aqueducts across several large streams, and in some places it is cut through solid rock. It is supplied with water from lake Erie, 142 m. from Buffalo to Seneca river.
Most of the flow of water is from the w. towards the c., the only exception being between Lodi and the Seneca river, where there is a fall westward through 5 locks. At Rome, a little w. of Utica, a supply of water is received from the Black river canal. Between Rome and Syracuse water is drawn from Cazenovia lake and other reservoirs, while at Syracuse it supplies water to the Oswego canal. Buffalo is 568 ft. above the level of the Hudson at Albany, the difference being overcome by locks at various points. The canal has been immensely successful, contributing largely to the growth of New York, Buffalo, and intermediate places. The railroads, though affording means of more rapid communication, and having the advantage of being open at times when the canal ds frozen, have by no means superseded the latter.