Lesson plan 13 erie cannal to get students interested
1. Erie Cannal and Industrialization
Do you know what a canal is?
Why is transporting goods
important?
2. Early Transportation in New York
and U.S.
1. Turnpikes
- early roads, built by private companies
- people had to pay a toll to use them
- muddy and poorly built
3.
4. 2. Erie Canal (1798-1819)
- built so western New York could ship
goods east to the Port of New York City
(increase trade)
- NY Governor DeWitt Clinton wanted to
build the canal
- many mocked Clinton because they
thought it was impossible to build (called
it “Clinton’s Ditch”)
5.
6.
7.
8. a. Labor Problems
- not enough workers
- Irish immigrants were hired right off the
boat from Ireland to dig the canal
- many Irish are mistreated and suffer
prejudice
- some Irish die of malaria when they have
to dig through swampland
9.
10.
11. b. New Technology Used
- Stump Puller = new invention to pull
out tree stumps
- Aqueducts = water bridge used to carry
the canal over rivers (Romans)
- Locks = used to level the canal over
uneven ground
- Industrial Explosives = used to blast
through rocks at Lockport
12.
13. c. Results of the Erie Canal
- cost of shipping goods cut from $100 a ton to $6 a ton
- time to ship goods across N.Y. cut from 15 days to 5
days
- population of the west increases – immigrants from NYC
use the canal to go through mountains to Buffalo and
across Lake Erie to Northwest Territories
- Increased National unity between eastern & western
U.S.
- New York State grows – towns like Buffalo, Rochester, &
Syracuse become cities
- NYC becomes largest city in U.S.
14.
15. 3. Robert Fulton Invents the
Steamboat (1807)
- boats can now move faster up the Hudson
and Mississippi Rivers against the current
result
=faster & cheaper shipping ( U.S.
economy)
