Erie Canal Webquest
Directions: Using the website links answer the following questions in complete sentences
Name:
http://www.eriecanal.org/
1. What 2 bodies of water are linked by the canal?
2. From its proposal to completion, how long did the Erie Canal take to build?
3. What was one reason the canal was built?
4. Why was the canal called “Clinton’s Big Ditch?”
5. Click on the word “Locks” to see how they work. Explain in your own words
how a boat used to go through the locks.
6. Go back to the original page: What is the Erie Canal used for today?
http://www.eduplace.com/ss/hmss/8/unit/act4.1.2.html
7. What did the barges haul through the canal, according to the song?
8. What does “Low Bridge, Everybody Down” refer to? (If you’re not sure, look at
the next site.:)
This next site is a portion of a man’s journal who was a passenger on the original
canal.
http://www.eduplace.com/ss/hmss/8/unit/act4.1.1.html
9. How could the trip on the canal be dangerous?
http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/building/topic1.html
Click on the slide show of the Erie Canal for the next questions. Click through the
first 2 slides until you see a menu at the bottom of the slide. Choose “Excavation.”
10. What did they use to uproot trees and HOW did it work?
11. Go back to the main menu, click on “History.” What 2 famous founding fathers
predicted that canals would be an easy mode of travel?