Economic history of the United States
The 325-mile Erie Canal, which connected Albany, New York, on the Hudson River with Buffalo, New York, on Lake Erie, began operation in 1825. Wagon cost from Buffalo to New York City in 1817 was 19.2 cents per ton-mile. By Erie Canal c. 1857 to 1860 the cost was 0.81 cents. The Erie Canal was a great commercial success and had a large regional economic impact.
Warren County Canal
The Warren County Canal was made completely navigable in 1840, it having reached Lock 2 near Lebanon on March 15, 1839. The canal, wide plus a towpath, began at Middletown between Miami and Erie Lock 31 (Dine's) and 32 (Middletown) at Mile 208. (Mile 0 was on Lake Erie at Toledo, Mile 250 was on the Ohio River at Cincinnati.) This site is about south of the present Central Avenue; Verity Parkway follows the old path of the Miami and Erie (). The canal was supplied by a feeder off the Miami and Erie Canal north at Mile 205 between Lock 29 (Upper Greenland) and Lock 30 (Lower Greenland), south of the Miami Dam. The canal there consumed water at the rate of 1800 cubic feet per minute (850 L/s) (per Morrow's "History") or 2000 cubic feet per minute (940 L/s) (per the "Historical and Biographical Cyclopaedia").