Erie Canal

lock

Mechanism requiring a key

• aqueductChannel conveying water distances
• towpathCanal-side walking route
• excavationAct of unearthing

surveying · hydraulics · culvert · embankment · masonry · spillway · retaining wall · earthwork · trenching · dredging

channel

Passage for transmission

• towpathCanal-side walking route
• lockMechanism requiring a key
• aqueductChannel conveying water distances

basin · slack water · spillway · navigable · waterline · embankment · water level · prism · culvert · ditch

barge

Flat freight vessel

• muleEquine hybrid, often sterile
• packet boatShip for scheduled deliveries
• freightGoods being transported

cargo · lock · navigation · boatman · captain · towline · cargo hold · steerage · vessel · inland waterway

Albany

New York State capital

• BuffaloWestern New York city
• RochesterNew York or Minnesota city
• SyracuseCity in two eras

Utica · Hudson Valley · Finger Lakes · Hudson River · Niagara · Western New York · Great Lakes · Lockport · Rome · Schenectady

1825

A four-digit date

• westward expansionSpreading in sunset's direction
• pioneer settlementEarly frontier community
• national heritageShared cultural legacy

landmark · industrial revolution · antebellum · groundbreaking · packet boat · historical significance

trade route

Path for commerce

• freightGoods being transported
• salt tradeCommerce in crystalline preservative
• commodityFungible traded good

merchant · warehouse · port · commerce · economic boom · wholesale · distribution · shipping industry · toll · revenue

• canalslock gates, lock systems, pound lock, lock gate, towpaths
• New York WatersHudson River, East River, Finger Lakes, Lake Ontario, Lake Champlain
• Upstate New YorkRochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, Ithaca
• Mohawk ValleyUtica, Amsterdam, Johnstown, Frankfort, Mohawk
• 1800s AmericaOregon Trail, Trail of Tears, transcontinental railroad, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln
• canal thingsgondolas, narrowboats, towpaths, sluices, aqueducts