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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Excellent history of the creation of the Erie Canal--from its first conception, through the political battles to get it approved and funded, to the mind-boggling engineering task (given the period's technology and equipment). Well written and researched.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Well-written book that wears its research lightly and does not get bogged down in details. The fact that its author is an economist and not an historian or political scientist gives a unique perspective on the economic benefits of the canal to New York City, New York State, and the nation as a whole.
Edie F wrote this review Monday, August 18 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
It will be interesting to see if there is a revival of water transport as fossil fuel price increases make land transport less economical.”1 of 1 members found this review helpful“Excellent history of the creation of the Erie Canal--from its first conception, through the political battles to get it approved and funded, to the mind-boggling engineering task (given the period's technology and equipment). Well written and researched.”
Steve wrote this review Sunday, August 17 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
1 of 1 members found this review helpful“This book is about the construction of the Erie Canal, which was built to connect Albany N.Y. (which was already connected to New York City and the Atlantic Ocean by the Hudson River) with Lake Erie. There were two major reasons to want to build the canal.
Neal R wrote this review Sunday, June 8 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
1. To keep the expanding United States together. George Washington was so concerned that the new states west of the Applachian Mountains would drift away from the original states along the Atlantic coast, because of the lack of easy commercial connections, that he actually tried to build a canal for the same purpose along the Potomac River. His effort ended in failure.
2. To increase trade between New York City and the new states west of the Applichian Mountains. As it turned out, the volume of goods traveling via the Erie canal increased far beyond the most optomistic dreams of the proponents of the canal.
This history is mainly concerned with the political infighting that preceded the building of the canal, continued while the canal was being built, and then carried over after the completion of the canal, when every one was trying to claim credit for this great success.
Governor DeWitt Clinton of New York was the primary driver of this seemingly outlandish effort. He made it happen when the nay-sayers were all united against him and his canal.
There is not a lot of material in the book about how the canal was built, but lots of discussion of the economic results of it. Previously, goods such as grain being shipped from the U.S. Midwest to Europe had to go down the Mississippi to New Orleans via barges, then be loaded onto ocean-going ships and taken to New York City, and then shipped across the Atlantic. Besides cutting down the shipping distance and time required, the costs were reduced by a factor of 10 or more.
Here in 2008, there is a lot of discussion about world trade under the existing Free Trade agreements. This book shows how the increased trade the Erie Canal made possible enriched the U.S.”
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