202. The Erie Erie Canal, which was finished in 1825, was a success. The others never amounted to much. The trade of the Great Lakes came by way of the canal to the Hudson River, and on it to New York City, which grew faster and became much larger than any other city in America. The wheat, corn, oats, and meat that went to the lake ports from the farms of the Central States were sent by canal to New York, and from New York to Europe. The merchants of New York imported goods from Europe that went by water to Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, and Duluth, and, after a time, by rail to places as far away as Denver and Seattle.
In 1918 New York state finished the work of widening and deep ening the old canal. It is now called the New York Barge Canal, or sometimes the Erie Barge Canal. A four-track rail road now follows it all the way to Buffalo. Many other railroads also" carry freight and passengers to New York City from the Central States and the Middle Atlantic States. (Fig. 212).
The harbor of New York is one of the finest in the world. The largest ships can steam into it, and ships from many countries can be seen there every day. (Fig. 213.) You see now why New York became the greatest trade center in America.
203. Trade makes New York is such an easy place to which to ship things both by land and by sea, it is also a good place for factories to get raw materials, and an excellent market in which to sell manufactured goods. You remember that New York is near to the coal fields. Thus it has become the greatest manu facturing city in America, as well as the greatest trading city. Thousands and thousands of people are busy in New York making clothes and hats and many other things for the wholesale stores to sell. No other State makes as much clothing as does New York State.
There are several cities near New York, such as Jersey City, Newark, Hoboken and Yonkers, that have grown big for the same • reason that New York has grown. They are really on the same harbor, which has many miles of shore where wharves can be built. New York is only one of a great group of cities having more people than any other city or group of cities in the world. In these cities you can find fac tories that make almost everything you can think of from lead pencils and pins to locomotives and ships.
Many of the people who work in New York and Brooklyn live in outlying towns (suburbs) where they can have more room for houses and for the children to play.
Business houses in the city need so much room that hundreds of thousands of fam ilies live in upstairs apartments and do not have any yards at all.
204. Money New York had greatly increased its import and export trade, and its factories, its banks grew larger and had more money in them than the banks of any other city in America. It became the money center of the country. Many thousands of people work in the banks, counting money and keeping books.
205. Other cities along the canal route. —Along the water route from New York to Buffalo there is a string of smaller cities. They have prosperous fac tories, because the canal and the railroads so easily carry in food from the Western farms, bring in raw materials, and carry out the finished products.
Buffalo and the other cities as far east as SyracUse run some of their factories with electric power that comes by wire from water power plants at Niagara Falls. These falls are at the place where the Niagara River, ',carrying all the water that pours out of the Great Lakes, tumbles over a ledge of rock 164 feet high and nearly a mile wide. Niagara Falls are one of the wonders of the world. Thousands of people visit them each year. Some of the water is used for power, but the falls are still beautiful.
The factories in the many cities between New York and Buffalo make things that are used by people everywhere in the country. Sche nectady makes electrical machinery to be used in factories both east and west. Johnstown and Gloversville were settled by Scotch glove-makers about 1760, and gloves are still the chief article these towns have to sell. Rochester, built around the waterfalls on the Genesee River, has many flour mills and clothing factories. It also manufactures cameras and photo graphic supplies.
At Syracuse there is a layer of rock salt, deep down in the ground. Water is pumped down into the rock, where it dis solves (takes up) some of the salt. Then the water is pumped back again and evaporated to get the salt, which is used in chemical works.
You remember that Buffalo, at the western end of the Erie canal, handles a great deal of grain and lumber that come in lake steamers from the North Central States. (Sec. 99.) Buffalo also makes iron and steel, and has many kinds of factories. It is the second city of New York State and the fourth city of the Middle Atlantic States.