The Erie Canal transformed New York into “The Empire State” by speeding travel, opening markets, lowering shipping costs, growing towns, and moving goods and information in ways that connected the young American nation like never before. It became the first super-highway, and two men from the Syracuse area, Joshua Forman and James Geddes, were instrumental in making it a reality. In 1807, Forman secured funds from the state legislature for Geddes to survey whether a canal could link Lake Erie and the Hudson River, and after the survey succeeded, plans materialized after 1808. The War of 1812 delayed progress for several years, but after DeWitt Clinton was elected Governor of New York in 1817, he pushed the project forward, and when President James Madison vetoed federal funding for internal improvements, the state legislature funded the canal through lotteries, bonds, and taxes. Work began in Rome, New York, on July 4, 1817, and over eight years thousands of workers, including many immigrants, dug the canal mostly by hand. Forty feet wide, four feet deep, and 363 miles long from Albany to Buffalo, it was an engineering marvel of its day. After opening in 1825, it cut travel times in half on average, reducing the trip from Albany to Buffalo to six days. By 1836, the canal and its locks had to be enlarged to handle larger boats, and they continued in use for the next 80 years. In 1918, New York State completed the Barge Canal, which remained in operation and made the original Erie Canal obsolete, and over time the old canal was filled in. The canal also shaped Syracuse and Onondaga County, helping expand the salt industry, supporting industrial development alongside the railroad, and using weigh lock buildings to measure cargo and collect tolls that helped maintain the waterway. Though much of the original canal was filled in in the 1920s, a small section remained nearby, including Gere's Lock in Geddes.