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Asked by: Georgeann Edkins
business and finance logisticsHow long did it take for the Erie Canal to pay for itself?
The canal was completed in only 8 years at a cost of $7,000,000. When completed on October 26, 1825, DeWitt Clinton (by then Governor of New York) boarded a vessel, the Seneca Chief, in Buffalo and headed to New York City.
Likewise, how was the Erie Canal paid for?
The Commission to Explore a Route for a Canal to Lake Erie and Report, known as the Erie Canal Commission, was a body created by the New York State Legislature in 1810 to plan the Erie Canal. In 1817 a Canal Fund led by Commissioners of the Canal Fund was established to oversee the funding of construction of the canal.
Beside this, how did the Erie Canal pay off the money it cost to build it?
The Erie Canal cost $7 million dollars to build but reduced shipping costs significantly. Before the canal, the cost to ship one ton of goods from Buffalo to New York City cost $100. After the canal, the same ton could be shipped for a mere $10.
All in all, the original canal was constructed with 83 locks and 18 aqueducts that helped move it through rivers and ravines as it rose over 500 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie over the course of several hundred miles. This original Erie Canal was completed on October 26, 1825.