A report on Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Canal and Erie Canal

The Alter Strom, in the sea resort of Warnemünde, Germany.

Small boat canals such as the Basingstoke Canal fuelled the industrial revolution in much of Europe and the United States.

Aqueduct over the Mohawk River at Rexford, one of 32 navigable aqueducts on the Erie Canal

Canal boats waiting to be unloaded in Georgetown.

Bridge on the Naviglio Grande, in the town of Cassinetta di Lugagnano, in Italy

The Mohawk Valley, running east and west, cuts a natural pathway (water gap) between the Catskill Mountains to the south and the Adirondack Mountains to the north.

Low-angle bird's-eye view of central Washington toward the west and northwest with The Capitol in foreground. The Canal is visible running along the mall.

Canal in Broek in Waterland, Netherlands.

C&O Canal in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Operations at Lockport, New York, in 1839

Boat construction yard in Cumberland, MD

Saimaa Canal, a transportation canal between Finland and Russia, in Lappeenranta

Stonework of lock abandoned because of route change, at Durhamville, New York

Map of Terminus in Cumberland in the mid 1890s. Yellow dots indicate modern highways as well as current (2013) location of Canal basin.

Westbury Court Garden: the garden "Canal".

An original five-step lock structure crossing the Niagara Escarpment at Lockport, now without gates and used as a cascade for excess water

Register of waybills in the Cumberland Office, in 1858. Each canal boat had to have a waybill, even if empty, for passage through the canal. Fines were levied for lack of a waybill.

Loading Anthracite on the Lehigh Canal to feed the early United States industries in the pioneer-era.

5 and 10 dollar notes, from C&O Canal company

1. Design High Water Level (HWL)
2. Low water channel
3. Flood channel
4. Riverside slope
5. Riverside banquette
6. Levee crown
7. Landside slope
8. Landside banquette
9. Berm
10. Low water revetment
11. Riverside land
12. Levee
13. Protected lowland
14. River zone

1853 map of New York canals emboldened, center: the Erie Canal; other lines: railroads, rivers and county borders

Lithograph of the Erie Canal at Lockport, New York c. 1855. Published for Herrman J. Meyer, 164 William Street, New York City.

Great Falls feeder culvert (no longer used) indicated by yellow arrow(14.08 mi), and Lock 18 (R).

The Amsterdam-Rhine Canal near Rijswijk, Netherlands

Aqueduct over Nine Mile Creek north of Camillus, New York, built in 1841 and abandoned c. 1918; one of 32 navigable aqueducts on the Erie Canal, it has since been restored.

Canal de Castilla in Castile and León, Spain, is 207 km long, crossing 38 municipalities. Initially built to transport wheat, it is now used for irrigation.

Upstream view of the downstream lock at Lock 32, Pittsford, New York

An informal overflow. The towpath dips, allowing water to flow over it. Note the boards in the background for people to walk on.

Map of the "Water Level Routes" of the New York Central Railroad (purple), West Shore Railroad (red) and Erie Canal (blue)

Two "low" lift bridges in Lockport, New York, July 2010

Culvert #30 lets Muddy Branch under the canal

The modern Erie Canal has 34 locks, which are painted with the blue and gold colors of the New York State Canal System.

Gateway Harbor in North Tonawanda, about 1000 ft from the present-day western terminus of the Erie Canal where it connects to the Niagara River

The Old Erie Canal and its towpath at Kirkville, New York, within Old Erie Canal State Historic Park

A steamboat on the C&O Canal. Note the steering wheel and the smokestack on this boat

Buffalo's Erie Canal Commercial Slip in Spring 2008

Children tethered to canal boat. This photo was probably taken in one of the Cumberland basins.

Aqueduct over the Mohawk River at Rexford, New York, one of 32 navigable aqueducts on the Erie Canal.

Model interior of a C&O Canal freight boat

Sluice in the canal of Gabčíkovo Dam (Slovakia) – the canal is conveying water to a hydroelectric power station.

Old Erie Canal State Historic Park, DeWitt, New York

Recent view of the 9 mile level (between 33 and 34 miles) where the ghosts were reported to haunt.

The modern single lock at the Niagara Escarpment

Monocacy aqueduct in 2011, where the ghost of a robber could allegedly be seen on moonless nights

A family rides a boat in one of the canals of Amsterdam.

A proposal for the Nicaragua Canal, from around 1870.

Abandoned DeLessups equipment, Panama jungle

Canals can disrupt water circulation in marsh systems.

A canal (Gracht) in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Griboyedov Canal in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Aerial view of the man-made canals of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Wharfs along the Oudegracht in Utrecht, Netherlands.

Two Panamax ships in the Miraflores Locks on the Panama Canal, Panama.

alt=A series of approximately 20 black lock gates with white ends to the paddle arms and wooden railings, each slightly higher than the one below. On the right is a path and on both side's grass and vegetation.|The flight of 16 consecutive locks at Caen Hill on the Kennet and Avon Canal, Wiltshire.

A canal boat traverses the longest and highest aqueduct in the UK, at Pontcysyllte in Denbighshire, Wales.

The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie.

- Erie Canal

Construction on the 184.5 mi canal began in 1828 and ended in 1850 with the completion of a 50 mi stretch to Cumberland, although the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad had already reached Cumberland in 1842.

- Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

The Erie Canal, built between 1817 and 1825, threatened traders south of New York City, who began to seek their own transportation infrastructure to link the burgeoning areas west of the Appalachian Mountains to mid-Atlantic markets and ports.

- Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

In time, projects were devised in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and relatively deep into the coastal states.

- Erie Canal

When a stream is too difficult to modify with canalization, a second stream can be created next to or at least near the existing stream. This is called a lateral canal, and may meander in a large horseshoe bend or series of curves some distance from the source waters stream bed lengthening the effective length in order to lower the ratio of rise over run (slope or pitch). The existing stream usually acts as the water source and the landscape around its banks provide a path for the new body. Examples include the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Canal latéral à la Loire, Garonne Lateral Canal, Welland Canal and Juliana Canal.

- Canal

The Erie Canal (opened 1825) was chartered and owned by the state of New York and financed by bonds bought by private investors.

- Canal