The primary purpose of the Erie Canal when it was built was to bring wheat from Ohio to New York. It brought the price of shipping down by 90%. The Erie Canal's utility as a commercial waterway was later overtaken first by railroads and later by Interstate highways. Today it is primarily used by pleasure craft.
The Erie Canal was used for boats. Back then, they used horse and buggy. It was much quicker to go by boat. So they built the Erie Canal. They used to used it for traveling. Nowadays, it is used mostly for tours.
People used the Erie Canal because it was faster than horseback and could carry more goods.
Yes the Erie Canal is still in business today. Much of it is now recreation but there is still commercial traffic such as barges of corn from Canada to be turned into ethanol.https://www.npr.org/2013/06/25/195426326/commercial-shipping-revived-along-erie-canal
They didn't have earth moving machines back then. The Erie Canal was dug by hand with some animal help.
they were used for trade along rivers or canals such as the Erie canal, the Mississippi river, or the Ohio river. They were used for quicker transportation of people and goods.
The Erie Canal was used by many thousands of people in New York and immigrants that went on to settle in the Midwest.
The Erie Canal is still used mostly for recreation and fishing. But there are some barges of corn and wheat for ethanol production using the Erie Canal.
Many people from Europe used the Erie Canal to get to Wisconsin and Illinois to farm.
Small boats and pleasure craft uses the Erie Canal today. It is also a cycling trail and used for fishing. But there still is some commercial traffic.
The benefits of canal travel as to land travel, sea travel or even ocean travel is that it usually has alot of places to buy and sell things along the way. During American history, the Erie canal was used as an economical hot spot to encourage trade. During the industrial revolution, different cites along the Erie canal specialised in different goods and on the Erie canal traders from foreign European countries could trade and make money.
Mostly the Erie Canal today is used for recreation and fishing. However some farmers ship grain to be made into ethanol.
The Chemung Canal was very similar to the Erie Canal. It connected the Finger Lakes region of New York with the Susquehanna River. Both canals used barges or packet boats.