A few days after the first shovel was thrust into the central New York state dirt on July 4, 1817, to ceremoniously begin the building of the Erie Canal, the real work got started.
A few dozen workers supplied with nothing more than shovels and draft animals started digging in both directions in Rome. One crew headed west toward Buffalo, and another started digging east toward Albany. By the time the 363-mile waterway was fully opened in the fall of 1825, thousands of people had labored on what was considered the greatest engineering feat of the era — and one that would change history. Read More
