The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York State that extends 363 miles from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, to Buffalo, New York , to Lake Erie, completing a navigable route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks which allow a boat to pass from one water level to another lower level by raising the water level in one section, allowing the boat to pass from one lock to another . In doing so, the Erie Canal made a once-inaccessible waterway a common means of transportation for goods and people. Travel by land and sea was both tedious and expensive. Transporting a ton of goods across states would cost about $100, or $1,265 in today's money. By the 1790s, land routes connecting the Eastern Seaboard and the westernmost regions of the United States were underdeveloped. Along with this, when weather conditions were poor, land routes could not allow for any sort of reliable transportation by wagon, or even transportation by horseback. Natural waterways provided the most reliable means of transportation west of Albany. Even travel by waterways at that time was not practical as these waterways were unreliable due to the shallow waters and raging rapids. In the early days of America's westward expansion, traveling from the coast of North America to the heart of the continent was certainly a difficult journey. recurring problem. DeWitt Clinton, who served as mayor of New York City and later governor of New York State, had the vision and drive to build the first 363-mile-long Erie Canal. By doing so, DeWitt believed that America would control westward expansion. It was feared that if the United States did not have a good connection to the west, Canada could connect to the west and more middle of paper......bordering the canal today. The development of the railroad in the 19th century and the automobile in the 20th century sealed the fate of the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal created what was the first reliable transportation system, connecting the Eastern Seaboard (New York) and the Western Interior (Great Britain). Lakes) from the United States which did not require land travel. In addition to making river routes faster than land travel, it also reduced travel costs by 95 percent. The canal sparked a population surge in western New York and opened areas further west to settlement. This was the beginning of New York City's transformation into America's leading port. /wiki/Erie_Canalhttp://www.canals.ny.gov/cculture/history/http://www.history.com/topics/erie-canal