C.Y. Turner’s mural “The Marriage of the Waters� shows New York Governor DeWitt Clinton pouring water from Lake Erie into New York Harbor at the opening of the Erie Canal on October 26, 1825.

The waterway, which connects Albany to Buffalo, was a modern marvel at the time of its construction and accelerated trade in the U.S. by providing a quicker connection between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes, and thus the interior of the country. It also secured New York City (already connected to Albany via the natural water route of the Hudson River) as the nation’s, and one of the world’s, premier ports.

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