USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Erie Canal reduced travel time in half, and slashed shipping costs 90%. The typical cost for moving goods over land was $100 per ton; via the canal, the cost was $10 per ton. Within 10 years of the canal’s opening, that cost had further dropped to $4 per ton.

Detailed explanation-2: -By linking New York to Albany to Buffalo, the Erie Canal initiated a new era of growth for inland freight transportation for East Coast ports. It reduced the cost of moving a ton of flour from Buffalo to New York from $120 to $6. It also reduced the transit time from three weeks to six days.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Erie Canal helped to launch the consumer economy. Farmers could grow wheat in western New York, sell it and have cash to buy furniture and clothing shipped up the canal that they otherwise would have made at home, ” Kelly says. “That was the first inklings of the consumer economy.”

Detailed explanation-4: -The completion of the Erie Canal spurred the first great westward movement of American settlers, gave access to the rich land and resources west of the Appalachians and made New York the preeminent commercial city in the United States.