Canal
Fulton's, Ohio & Erie Canal
Ohio's 1000-mile
network of navigable canals, constructed between 1825 and
1847, provided a system of economical transportation where
none had previously existed. The young state with its isolated
frontier economy was transformed almost overnight. The canals
opened many markets for its agriculture and industrial products,
and attracted thousands of immigrants to the state. Today
only a few of the deep excavations, the high earthen embankments
and the massive structures of timber and cut stone are left
to remind us of our debt to those who built Ohio's first transportation
system. |