The Fascinating History of the Erie Canal

Why you won’t want to miss visiting the famous waterway while in Niagara County.

Originally built beginning in 1817 and opened in 1825, the significance of the Erie Canal to the history of Western New York cannot be understated. Running for 363 miles, this engineering marvel connects the Great Lakes, the Hudson River, Lake Champlain and the Finger Lakes. Its construction created a waterway between the Midwest and New York, changing the flow of goods and agricultural commerce in America. More than 9,000 laborers worked over seven years to complete the project, inventing their own equipment and methods for drilling, breaking up stone, uprooting trees and even creating hydraulic cement, which could harden underwater.

Today, the Erie Canal is primarily used for recreational watercraft, making it an ideal spot to kayak, learn about history and explore the still ingenious locks system, which can be experienced in the city of Lockport, just 30 minutes from Niagara Falls.

We rounded up some interesting facts about the Erie Canal. Did you know…

  • The Erie Canal is the longest artificial waterway in North America.
  • Over 1.5 million people visit the Erie Canal every year.
  • The Erie Canal has been widened and deepened three times since its creation, changing from the original 40 feet wide and four feet deep to its current 120 to 200 feet wide and 23 feet deep.
  • There are 34 National Historic Landmarks and 800 listings on the National Register of Historic Places along the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.
  • The Erie Canal originally cost $7 million and was underwritten entirely by New York State.
  • The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor also spans the ancestral homelands of many First Nations, including The Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Mohican Nation. The canal building boom and ensuing urban population boom brought about a rapid dispossession and disruption to the lives of the region’s Indigenous Peoples. While there are more members of the Six Nations in New York today than at the end of the American Revolution, most reside on reservations that are often far from their ancestral homelands.
  • Freedom seekers escaping slavery in the 1800s used the Erie Canal as an Underground Railroad route to escape to Canada — and to freedom.

Some more cool facts about the locks:

  • The locks (35 in total) act like giant bathtubs! After the doors close on a boat, piped water flows in or out of the sealed chamber, adjusting the water level so the vessel can float out at the correct height.
  • The Lockport Locks are one of the most iconic engineering feats of the entire manmade waterway, with massive wooden gates operated by hand that allow boat traffic to climb the Niagara Escarpment.

Ready to check out the Erie Canal and the Lockport Locks?

Make a day of it! Start at the Erie Canal Discovery Center, a multimedia museum that showcases the early days of the canal via interactive exhibits. Then hop onto a Lockport Locks and Erie Canal Cruise for a guided, two-hour cruise that steers you through history and the famous locks (Seasonal). Finish your visit with a scoop of house-made, premium ice cream at Lake Effect Ice Cream.

Travel Tip: If you’re traveling in the summer or early fall, hop on and off the (free!) Discover Niagara Shuttle and see all the most popular town attractions along the Lockport Loop. Take your experience even further with a guided Flight of Five Lock Tenders Tour, a 45-minute walking tour, available between June 21 and September 15, 2024. Or, opt for the 30-minute self-guided audio tour with narrated descriptions right from your phone, available year-round, 24/7!

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