The Erie Canal for Math Pros Resources to

The Erie Canal for Math Pros! Resources to use with the lesson created by the Module Development Committee of the New York Geographic Alliance

The Erie in Our Memory

MAP SKILL #1 -Getting from Buffalo to Albany

Map of New York

Map Skill #2 Finger Lakes

The Hudson River Hudson Highlands Brooklyn • The Hudson River is navigable by steam boat from Albany to New York City. • This is why the Erie Canal was successful… • …It connected the Great Lakes to the Hudson River and down to the Atlantic Ocean. • Often canal boats were towed to NYC.

Map Skill #3

The Problem of Elevation • Canals must deal with vertical changes… ELEVATION! • To accomplish this “water stairs” or locks are needed. • Like elevators, locks lift or lower boats �gradually. Animation from Erie Canal. org

The Escarpment at Lockport • At Lockport, the canal had to “climb” a big cliff or an “escarpment. ” • This escarpment is 70 feet high! That’s too much for one lock. • You need a “staircase of locks!” • If each lock can lift a boat 14 feet, how many will you need to get over this cliff? 70 ÷ 14 = 5 Locks 14 14 70 ft. 14 14 “The Flight of Five” Locks 14 in Lockport, NY

Map Skill #4 - Why not an Ontario Canal? Now What?

Why this doesn’t work… • If you take a boat to the St. Lawrence River, you can only trade with Canada. • If you go west, you have to get by a major obstacle. • It’s Niagara Falls! • The Erie Canal takes you to Lake Erie and avoids this problem.

Paying Your Way on the Erie… The Weighlock in Syracuse, New York, where boats were actually weighed. • To pay for operating the Canal, the state charged a fee or a toll. • Boat were weighed and charged by the ton. • Passengers paid the captains a toll too, 4¢ per mile

Map Skill #5 - Growth! ++ + +

EXPERT MAP SKILLS! 1 2 3

MORE Expert Skills! 6 4 5