Opening of the Erie Canal (1825)

Hello there. My name is DeWitt Clinton. A long, long time ago, I had a very big idea. It was hard for my friends to move their toys and yummy food from the big lakes all the way to the big ocean. The roads were bumpy and slow. So, I thought, what if we made a new kind of road. A road made of water. I wanted to build a canal. A canal is like a long, calm river that people make. Our water road would let boats float easily all the way across the land of New York. It was an exciting dream, and I couldn't wait to get started.

To make my dream come true, we needed lots of helpers. So many people came to work together. All day long you could hear them. Dig, dig, dig with their shovels. They dug a very, very long ditch in the dirt, making a path where there was none before. It took a long time, for many summers and winters, but everyone kept working as a team. I would visit and watch them, and it made me so happy to see them building our water road. My favorite part was when we let the water in for the first time. Whoosh. The water rushed into the long ditch we had dug. Everyone cheered when they saw it. It was like a brand new river that we had made all by ourselves. It stretched for miles and miles, just waiting for boats to come and float along.

On a special day, October 26th, 1825, we had a big party to celebrate our finished canal. I got to ride on the very first boat, called the Seneca Chief. We floated all the way from the big lake to the big city by the ocean. People stood by the canal and cheered and waved as we went by. When we reached the ocean, I did something special. I poured a bucket of water from the lake into the ocean. We called it the 'Wedding of the Waters.' Our new water road connected everything. Now, everyone could share things and visit each other more easily. My big dream came true and helped our country grow.