At the beginning of the 19th century, New Yorkers led by Governor De Witt Clinton built the 363-mile Erie Canal, connecting the Hudson River at Albany with Lake Erie at Buffalo. Opened in 1825, it provided the first all-water link between the Atlantic seaboard and the Great Lakes and quickly became the most successful and influential canal in North America. More than a feat of engineering, it opened the continent’s interior by providing a safe and reliable route for west-bound migrants and manufactured goods and east-bound products of forests, farms, and mines. By connecting places, people, and ideas, it strengthened the union, fostered social and reform movements, and helped establish an American identity in art, literature, story, and song, both here and abroad. Its success sparked a canal building boom throughout the eastern US and Canada, yet it remained preeminent, making New York the Empire State and confirming New York City's status as the young nation’s most prosperous and vibrant seaport. Enlarged several times during the 19th and early 20th centuries, it continues in service today along with the connecting Champlain, Oswego, and Cayuga-Seneca Canals, now actively used for boating and fishing as well as hiking and cycling along the cross-state Canalway Trail. In Schenectady, the canal ran along the center of what is now Erie Boulevard, driving the city’s growth and establishing it as a place of commerce, manufacturing, and industry.