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Land transportation improved in the early 1800s, but it was still cheaper and faster for goods and people to be transported over water. Unfortunately, lakes and rivers often did not connect to make convenient shipping routes. So, goods had to be unloaded from a boat on one river, loaded onto horses or wagons, taken to the next river, and loaded onto boats again. Similar steps were necessary to avoid waterfalls and rapids. To make shipping more efficient, states began to dig long, shallow canals to connect lakes and rivers. The most successful was the Erie Canal, constructed between 1817 and 1825. The Erie Canal connected Lake Erie to the Hudson River, which then connected to New York City.

The Erie Canal had significant effects, in New York and beyond. Match each fact about the Erie Canal to its effect.

1.Goods such as wheat could be shipped from areas near the Great Lakes, across the Erie Canal, and then down the Hudson River to New York City.
2. The state of New York spent $7 million on the canal. But the state earned even more money by charging people to use the canal.
3. The cost of shipping products from east to west decreased sharply, so those products became cheaper for many westerners.

A. other states spent millions of dollars to build their own canals, hoping to make a profit as large as New York's.
B. New York City became the nation's busiest port and its leading business center.
C. People around the Great Lakes could more easily buy clothes made on the East Coast.

1 answer

Here are the matches of each fact about the Erie Canal to its corresponding effect:

  1. Goods such as wheat could be shipped from areas near the Great Lakes, across the Erie Canal, and then down the Hudson River to New York City.

    • C. People around the Great Lakes could more easily buy clothes made on the East Coast.

  2. The state of New York spent $7 million on the canal. But the state earned even more money by charging people to use the canal.

    • B. New York City became the nation's busiest port and its leading business center.

  3. The cost of shipping products from east to west decreased sharply, so those products became cheaper for many westerners.

    • A. Other states spent millions of dollars to build their own canals, hoping to make a profit as large as New York's.