In the 1830s, Illinois faced a crumbling capitol in Vandalia and inadequate transportation in the northeastern part of the state. Abraham Lincoln and eight fellow Sangamon County legislators known as the Long Nine supported moving the capital to Springfield and building a canal connecting Lake Michigan to the Illinois River, with northern Illinois legislators agreeing. Springfield became the capital, and the future site of Lockport was chosen as headquarters for constructing the Illinois and Michigan Canal, possibly taking its name from Lockport, New York, a major Erie Canal hub. Organizers placed the headquarters at the steepest drop along the route to harness water power, and during peak construction from 1836 to 1848, Lockport became one of the largest cities in Illinois. After the canal was completed, people, goods, and ideas moved along a route linking New York City to New Orleans by way of the Hudson River, Erie Canal, Great Lakes, the Illinois and Michigan Canal, the Illinois River, and the Mississippi River, helping open the eastern United States to the Midwest, strengthen the nation's economy, and aid Chicago's growth. It is believed that Lincoln traveled on the canal more than once between 1848 and 1852, and during his only term in Congress he proclaimed its completion and opening in 1848. After winning the Republican nomination in Chicago in 1860 with help from his friend William Gooding, the canal superintendent, Lincoln became the sixteenth President of the United States and in his first term signed legislation allowing the canal to transport cannon and armaments used in the siege of Vicksburg. Local lore holds that Lincoln passed through Lockport several times, and after his assassination his body traveled through Lockport on May 2, 1865, on the train carrying his remains to Springfield.