The Erie Canal A 19th-Century World Wonder - I-90 - Randall, NY - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

One of several markers located along the "Trail of History", a short walk that winds around the Mohawk Valley Traveler Center. The trail has many informative signs that recount the early history of the adjacent Erie Canal and Lock 13.

This particular marker Recalls the completion of the canal in the 19th Century, and how it was regarded as an engineering marvel. Marker text reads:

The Erie Canal was built by taking advantage of a path carved by nature through the eastern Appalachian Mountains. Construction on the Erie Canal began in Rome, New York, on July 4, 1817, and it opened in Buffalo in 1825.

As one of the greatest champions of the canal, Governor Dewitt Clinton presided over a "Wedding of the Waters” ceremony soon after the waterway opened. Critics of the Erie Canal, soon proved wrong, had called the canal “Clinton's Big Ditch."

While serving a 20-month prison sentence for bankruptcy, Jesse Hawley, a New York flour merchant, wrote a series of essays in 1807 that proved hugely influential to the creation of the canal.

Marker is accessible from I-90 westbound only.

Group that erected the marker: Path Through History/I Love NY. URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link] Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: Mohawk Valley Traveler Center NY State Thruway Westbound Randall, NY USA

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