It took Clinton six years to sell his vision to the state legislature.  It was in his first year as Governor that he was finally able to convince them to appropriate seven million dollars for this project.  Dewitt Clinton served as State Senator, U.S. Senator, Mayor of New York City and Lieutenant Governor prior to his election as New York State's Governor in 1816.  Nephew of a Vice President, Dewitt Clinton was the unsuccessful candidate for President in 1812 losing to James Madison.

Although not the first to articulate the advantages of a waterway from Lake Erie to New York City, Clinton as leader clarified the vision, assembled the engineering talent, acquired the resources, marketed the concept and persevered to the end.

The Erie Canal would start in Buffalo, stretch 363 miles east before joining the Hudson River west of Troy.  An elevation of 550 feet would have to be overcome with locks.  A total of 83 locks were required, 27 in the first 15 miles.  The canal would cross the Genesee River near Rochester and the Mohawk River near Cohoes with aqueducts.  Scoffers soon called it "Clinton’s Ditch."

Clinton organized the effort by appointing three chief engineers, one for each geographic division.  Numerous contractors and subcontractors were utilized, the principal one being William James, later grandfather of the philosopher with his same name and his brother, the novelist, Henry James.

The work in digging the canal — 40 feet wide, 4 feet deep — through the rugged hills and swamps of Upstate New York was considered too hazardous and exhausting for Americans already settled here, so thousands of immigrants, mostly Irish, were brought in to do this task, aided by innovative local farmers who solved one of the toughest problems, stump pulling.  The death rate in digging the canal was extremely high.  Digging started at several points simultaneously.

On October 25, 1825, the Erie Canal was completed and on the next day the "Seneca Chief" left Buffalo and arrived in New York City on November 4.

The freight rates from Buffalo to the City dropped from $100 a ton to $10.  The Upper Mid-West was opened up to new migration and New York City accelerated its rise to eminence.  In nine years the tolls paid for the construction.

Over the decades the Erie Canal has been widened, deepened, improved, partially rerouted and renamed.  Well over a century later, it was still carrying over a million tons of cargo a year — a lasting tribute to a visionary, resourceful, persevering leader, Dewitt Clinton.

Source: The Shaping of America, by Page Smith, 1980.