The Erie Canal played a major part in commerce in the history of the United States. Its creation helped to make New York City the chief port in the United States and opened the western part of the state and other western territories to increased settlement and trade.
As part of a short series with the Sesquicentennial as a jumping off point, I used the 1860 Census in an earlier post as a way to find out more about the people living at the time of the Civil War. In this second post I wanted to show how Business staff might answer a …