The One Minute Geographer: The Amazing Importance of the Erie Canal, Part 8

After the Erie was widened, rerouted and renamed the New York State Barge Canal, many barges were pulled by tugboats. Photo near Troy taken around 1920. From eriecanal.org

We’re continuing our discussion of important aspects of the Erie Canal — how it helped shape US geography and history. This is the last post with historical geography content but I’ll do one more about touring the Erie Canal.

15) The Erie Canal helped establish the idea that the sale of land along a new transportation route could quickly pay for the transportation improvement. Everyone saw how the value of land along the Erie Canal skyrocketed after the canal was built. Books were published about selecting and investing in land along the canal. The construction of the Erie Canal itself was not financed by the sale of land. It was financed by bonds issued by the state of New York, sold to private investors, and paid for by canal tolls. The canal quickly paid off its bonds and became a source of revenue for the state. But the idea was born.

The federal government owned much of the land all over the old Northwest Territory of the Midwest. The federal government started giving land to states to sell to finance canals. Every state wanted its Erie Canal. Some examples: In 1827 the first of several federal Canal Land Grants were given to Indiana to finance the Wabash and Erie Canal. The same year land was given to Illinois for the Illinois River-Lake Michigan Canal. Ohio got land for the…