Construction of the Erie Canal was hailed as the
greatest engineering feat at that time. Under the
leadership of Governor De Witt Clinton, construction
began on July 4, 1817.(the nation was less than a
generation old!) With little technical knowledge,
thousands of workers surveyed, blasted and dug a
363-mile canal across the state. They hewed through
solid rock and dug in marshes; the erected aqueducts
to carry the canal over rivers and valleys; and they
built 83 locks to take the canal through changes in
ground level. When completed in 1825, the Erie
connected Albany and Buffalo and became the main route
between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes.

This is the remnant of that great engineering spectacle, an aqueduct near Weedsport, NY.