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.
Transportation in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is historically linked to the fabled Erie Canal, which ended where the Black Rock Channel enters Lake Erie, at Buffalo Creek. When the Erie Canal was dedicated in 1825, its conceiver, New York State governor DeWitt Clinton, carried waters from Lake Erie at Buffalo's western terminus of the canal (now the Commercial Slip), and poured it into the Atlantic Ocean in New York City. He sailed to New York on the canal packet "Seneca Chief." A return trip of the "Seneca Chief" carried Atlantic Ocean seawater. The seawater was poured into the Lake by Judge and future Buffalo Mayor Samuel Wilkeson. Once a major route for passengers and cargo, the Erie Canal played a primary role in opening the American West to settlers from the east. The canal is now used primarily for pleasure craft and some light local freight, and in Buffalo it bypasses the swift upper reach of the Niagara River. A tributary of the Niagara River is Scajaquada Creek, which flows through Buffalo, via the Olmsted-designed Delaware Park–Front Park System.