BY ERIC MODEL
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
JOURNEYS INTO NEW JERSEY
In our history books considerable attention is given to the Erie Canal for how it changed America by establishing new markets and a new way traveling when it opened on October 26, 1825.
It was the first transportation system between the eastern seaboard (New York City) and the western interior (Great Lakes) that did not require portage, was faster than carts pulled by draft animals, and cut transport costs by about 95 percent.
Lesser recalled is that New Jersey had its own canals and they too played an important role in the development of our state and our nation.
There were two primary canals in the state's history.
The Morris Canal, in use from the late 1820s until the 1920s, ran across the northern part of the state. The Delaware and Raritan Canal (D&R Canal), located in central New Jersey, was built in the 1830s and served to connect the Delaware River to the Raritan River.
