The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: October twenty-sixth, cruising 363 miles on the Erie Canal.

From the transcontinental railroad to the interstate highway system, Americans have undertaken massive transportation projects that profoundly shaped the country's development. The first of these defining accomplishments opened for business 175 years ago today.

When New York governor Dewitt Clinton cut the ribbon on the Erie Canal in 1825, it marked the culmination of 40 years of talk and eight years of construction. With 83 locks and 18 aqueducts the canal, averaging 40 feet wide and four feet deep, stretched from Albany on the Hudson River clear across New York State to Lake Erie.

The canal's impact was immediate. Slashing in half the travel time between those two points, it made New York City the country's principal port, put towns like Rochester and Buffalo on the map and sparked development along the Great Lakes from Ohio to Minnesota.

Although continually widened and deepened, by 1880, the canal had been eclipsed by faster, cheaper railroads and suffered a gradual decline. It remained navigable, however, and the last several decades have seen a boom in canal traffic. New York State's Canal Recreation Commission has revived what was once called the eighth wonder of the world, turning the Erie and 3 other historic manmade waterways into recreational corridors. Small boats, kayaks and canoes ply the waters; hikers and bikers use the adjacent tow paths. Several companies now offer cruises from an hour to three weeks, and craft of various size can be rented for self- conducted tours of the historic waterway. For information, check our web site: travelersjournal.com

Distribution of today's TRAVELER'S JOURNAL is made possible in part by WDUQ, National Public Radio in Pittsburgh, and in part, by listeners like you.

For American Information Radio, I'm David Bear.

FMI Erie Canal charter rates call Midlakes Navigation at 800-545-4318 or www.midlakes.nav.com Also New York Canal System at 800-422-6254 or www.canals.state.ny.us In the Rochester area you can a dinner cruise on the Erie Canal: call the Colonial Belle 716-377-4600

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