local brokerages and trading houses exchanged the agricultural commodities of farmers for currency, hardware, and trade goods brought in across lake erie from the east by way of the erie canal. the milan canal was deep and directly connected to lake erie, allowing lake erie schooners to transport goods to and from milan without the use of small, shallow-draft canal boats required on other canals. the confluence the deep ship-bearing canal, the great agricultural fertility of the regional ohio soils, and the direct access to new york markets by way of the erie canal made milan a retail center from the 1830s to the early 1850s.