Ways West in New York State

Because roads were expensive to build and maintain, the population of the United States was concentrated along the coasts and rivers that provided the only way to transport large amounts of furs, goods and produce to and from markets.   Conquest and sales opened up western New York State to settlers toward the end of the 18th century, but the region's population growth was slow because, in part, roads were few and poorly built.   By 1817, most New Yorkers lived along the wide Hudson River from New York City to its northermost navigable point, Albany, and along its most important important east-west tributary, the Mohawk River, from Albany to Rome.   The Mohawk Valley was the only gap in the Appalachian Mountains, extending from Quebec to Alabama, which gave upper New York State a most important advantage over Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia for commercial access to the growing western population centers.   At high water, access for small boats to Lake Ontario at Oswego was available via several rivers, portages and Lake Oneida.   The first attempt to improve this route resulted in these rivers and supplement them with canals resulted in the Mohawk River & Wood Creek river improvements and canals.

Of all the east-west canal routes contemplated by the eastern seaboard states to funnel western trade to them, New York had the best opportunity because the Mohawk River valley was the only east-west water-level pass through the Appalachian Mountain chain that stretches from Quebec to Alabama.   Along this river corridor, transportation from Rome to Lake Erie and the Old Northwest prior to the canal followed three routes from Albany, all slow, treacherous, long and expensive: (1) from Albany to Rome to Lake Ontario, lake boat to the Niagara River at Lewiston, portage from Lewiston around Niagara Falls to Black Rock or Buffalo on Lake Erie, (2) from Albany to Rome to Lewiston (including, present Ridge Road & route 104) and then along the Niagara River to Black Rock or Buffalo, (3) from Albany through Canandaigua and Batavia (including present route 20) to Buffalo.