Today in History: Erie Canal | Citizen U Primary Source Nexus

Today in History–October 26–the Library of Congress features the Erie Canal, which opened on this day in 1825. Harnessing gravity, the 363-mile waterway flowed from Buffalo, New York on the east coast of Lake Erie to the upper Hudson River at Albany. Decried by many as “Clinton’s Folly”, New York Governor DeWitt Clinton, the canal proved to be tremendously successful and encouraged settlement of the upper Midwest. Find out more about the Erie Canal by visiting the Today in History section, then click the links below to access more primary sources and teaching resources related to this canal and other 19th-century transportation projects.

Captain Pearl R. Nye: Life on the Ohio and Erie Canal folk songs

Down by the Erie Canal sheet music

Erie Canal image set

Erie Canal texts

Select newspaper articles

An 1881 proposal map for the Hennepin Canal which was to connect the Erie Canal to the Mississippi River
An 1891 article on the “Haunts of Dewitt Clinton“
A 1906 Spanish Fork Press article on the importance of the Canal
Photograph of the painting “Marriage of the Waters” which portrayed the opening of the Canal in 1825
A 1909 article on enlarging the Canal
A 1917 article reporting on the Canal celebrating its birthday
A 1918 article about the take-over of the Canal by the railroad administration
A 1920 article about freight piling up along the Canal waiting to be moved
A 1922 article with the headline “What will the ship canal do to New York?“