296. The Erie Canal.--The best way to connect one steamboat route with another was to dig a canal. The most famous of all these canals was the one connecting the Hudson River with Lake Erie, and called the Erie Canal. It was begun in 1817 and was completed so that a boat could pass through it in 1825. It was De Witt Clinton who argued that such a canal would benefit New York City by bringing to it the produce of the Northwest and of western New York. At the same time it would benefit the farmers of those regions by bringing their produce to tide water cheaper than it could be brought by road through Pennsylvania. It would still further benefit the farmers by enabling them to buy their goods much cheaper, as the rates of freight would be so much lower by canal than they were by road. People who did not see these things as clearly as De Witt Clinton saw them, spoke of the enterprise most sneeringly and called the canal "Clinton's big ditch." It very soon appeared that Clinton was right. In one year the cost of carrying a ton of grain from Lake Erie to the Hudson River fell from one hundred dollars to fifteen dollars. New York City soon outstripped all its rivals and became the center of trade and money in the United States. Other canals, as the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, were marvels of skill. But they were not so favorably situated as the Erie Canal and could not compete with it successfully. [Illustration: CONESTOGA WAGON AND TEAM.] [Sidenote: The first railroads. _McMaster_, 285-289.] 297. Early Railroads.--The best stone and gravel roads were always rough in places. It occurred to some one that it would be better to lay down wooden rails, and then to place a rim or flange on the wagon wheels to keep them on the rails. The first road of this kind in America was built at Boston in 1807. It was a very rude affair and was only used to carry dirt from the top of a hill to the harbor. The wooden rails soon wore out, so the next step was to nail strips of iron on top of them. Long lines of railroads of this kind were soon built. Both passengers and goods could be carried on them. Some of them were built by private persons or by companies. Others were built by a town or a state. Any one having horses and wagons with flanged wheels could use the railway on the payment of a small sum of money. This was the condition of affairs when the steam locomotive was invented. [Illustration: AN EARLY LOCOMOTIVE.] [Sidenote: Invention of the locomotive, 1830.] [Sidenote: Hardships of early railroad travel.]