Fulton’s contributions to the Erie Canal helped make it reality. He correctly believed the canal would become a turning point that revolutionized trade, expanded America, and created a strong bond for the country.
"Canals...would bind a hundred million of people on inseparable compact, alike in habits, in language, and in interests - one homogeneous brotherhood, the most invulnerable, powerful, and respected on earth."
(Robert Fulton 1810) |
Fulton became interested in canals while overseas. He invented the double incline plane, a way to raise boats without locks, and a dredge to speed construction. He wrote about canal design in the London newspaper.
"A Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation" explained his canal system ideas. He sent copies to George Washington and Thomas Mifflin, hoping they would build a canal system in America. Friends claim Fulton was the first to suggest the Erie Canal in a letter to Washington when he wrote "...the canal would run into Lake Erie..." "...the letter to Washington offers indisputable proof that Fulton was the first to suggest the Erie Canal." |
Fulton’s celebrity status made his support important. He was appointed commissioner to help plan the Erie Canal and was responsible for many improvements to the canal design. His report in 1814 proposed tolls, listed advantages of the canal, and compared transportation costs.
" It is therefore, I think, evident, that if a reasonable toll can produce an annual income, which in time will improve the whole state, it is the interest of the whole state that the canal should be made and the toll laid." (Robert Fulton 1814) Fulton died before construction of the canal began. Following Fulton's suggestion, the Erie Canal earned $121,000,000 in tolls. The canal was a turning point in American history, expanding the country by moving people and goods faster and cheaper than before. |