In 1825 the work was completed; the Erie Canal was opened, and at last there was a waterway between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic. All the towns along the canal held a great celebration. None had better reason for rejoicing than Buffalo. In 1825 Buffalo was a little hamlet on the frontier. Thanks to the Erie Canal, it was soon to become one of the leading cities of the country.
It was not long before the “big ditch” was known as the “path to the great West.” A rush of emigration further west followed, and all these travelers stopped at Buffalo, for here they had to change from the flat-bottomed canal boats to the lake vessels. Hotels were crowded, business flourished, and Buffalo became “a great doorway of the inland sea.”
THE BARGE CANAL NEAR BUFFALO
During the first years after its completion little freight was carried over the Erie Canal, but settlers kept flocking into the West, and before many years these Western pioneers were raising far more grain than they could use. Lake commerce began. Hundreds of ships brought wheat, lumber, and furs to Buffalo from the West and returned laden with manufactured goods. Buffalo was the chief lake port, and for many years shipping was its leading industry.
THE SITE OF BUFFALO
Then came the railroads. The first railroad to Buffalo was completed in 1836. A few years later, trains ran between Albany and Buffalo, and in time carloads of grain were shipped by rail. Though shipments by canal continued and even increased for a time, the railroads gradually did more and more of the carrying, and finally robbed the canal of much of its former importance.
Still, shipping by canal was cheaper. Improvements have been made in the Erie Canal from time to time, and in 1903 the state voted $101,000,000 for the enlargement of the Erie, Oswego, and Champlain canals into the 1000-ton-barge canal. When this is completed it will be 12 feet deep and will float much larger barges than did the Erie Canal.