a canal extending from Buffalo to Troy and Albany, N. Y., and connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson River. The Erie Canal was begun in 1817 and completed in 1825, at a cost of $7,602,000. Its length is 363 miles, and as at first constructed it was 28 feet wide at the bottom, 40 feet wide at the top and 4 feet deep. It has since been enlarged to nearly twice its original size, and measures still further to increase its depth have been taken by the legislature of New York. The canal contains 72 locks, each 110 feet long and 18 feet wide; 57 of these are double, but at Lockport the five double locks have a combined lift of 54 feet. Plans have recently been approved for the construction of a large single lock to replace the locks in the lower tier, which will be removed. The new lock will be used for large boats, and the old locks in the northern tier for smaller craft. The canal is carried over several rivers on stone aqueducts, and some of the cuts are through solid rock. This is the longest canal in the world. The construction of the Erie Canal is largely due to the energy and foresight of De Witt Clinton, who was governor of New York during most of the time it was under way. It was built by the state and is operated free of charge. This canal was the first great public work undertaken in the United States, and its completion was one of the most important events in the economic and commercial history of the country. It virtually connected the Great Lakes with the sea; it reduced the time of freight between Buffalo and Albany from twenty days to ten, and freight charges, from $100 to $10 per ton. It was the opening of this canal that gave New York the impetus which led her to become the leading commercial and financial city of America. See CANAL.