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How did the Erie Canal connect the Hudson River with Lake Erie?

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View of Utrecht's Oude Gracht canal lined with historic brick buildings, arched doorways at water level, and boats moored along the canal edge in the Netherlands. — canals and inland waterways The *Oudegracht* (Old Canal), Utrecht, Netherlands.

The Erie Canal connected the Hudson River at Albany to Lake Erie at Buffalo by traversing the Mohawk Valley region.1

To overcome natural terrain and a total elevation change of more than 150 meters (500 feet), engineers constructed a sophisticated system of 83 stone locks and 18 aqueducts to carry the canal over various bodies of water. A notable engineering challenge was the Niagara Escarpment, a 23-meter rock ridge, which was surmounted by a series of staircase-like locks and a deep cut through the plateau at the site that became Lockport. Completed in 1825, the 584-km (363-mile) waterway successfully linked the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean, facilitating significant economic growth and westward expansion.12