The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862 [Hardcover]

Carol Sheriff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1996

Winner of Best Manuscript Award from the New York State Historical Association

Artificial River reveals the human dimension of the story of the Erie Canal. Carol Sheriff's extensive, innovative archival research shows the varied responses of ordinary people-farmers, businessmen, government officials, tourists, workers-to this major environmental, social, and cultural transformation in the early life of the Republic.

 

 

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The United States was a new republic in 1817. The generation of its original revolutionaries was fast dying; a second war with Great Britain had recently been settled; and expansionism was the mood of the day. The "children of the founders," as Carol Sheriff calls this first 19th-century American generation, sought to make its mark with engineering projects that would further national growth and prove to Europe that the new nation "played a leading role in God's plan to improve the earthly world." It did so in grand style with the Erie Canal, a huge waterway that linked Atlantic seaports with the Great Lakes. Sheriff's vigorous account of the canal's conception and building makes for an epic story and fascinating reading. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

As an early-19th-century public works project, the Erie Canal dwarfed all others in terms of cost, size and imagination. By connecting Buffalo to Albany, the canal opened a waterway between New York City and the Great Lakes, dramatically transforming U.S. commerce and industry. In this work, which began as a dissertation, Sheriff, who teaches history at William and Mary, does an effective job of examining the impact of improved transportation on various segments of society: ditchdiggers, farmers, merchants, canal boat captains, politicians, housewives and missionaries. Most interesting is her finding that many of the motifs that define our current age began with the creation of the canal. From family values to government entitlements, and from government deficits to environmental destruction, today's issues seem to be reflected in this antebellum history. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 251 pages
• Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub; 1st edition (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809027534
• ISBN-13: 978-0809027538
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,099,881 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Read, February 20, 2003

By 

Alemayehu Telahun (Schenectady, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862 (Paperback)

This book describes the complicated and fascinating social history of the canal that shrunk time and distance and transformed western New York, brought great wealth to many and opened up the west. But this progress came at a price and the book explores some of the paradoxes of progress.

The progress and transformation that the Erie Canal brought also brought a new set of challenges for residents and legislators. The canal split many farms causing great problems to many farmers who wanted bridges to get to their farms, the low bridges were a hazard to canal passengers and traffic. Water diverted for the canal and locks created water shortages though the region. Leaks in the canal caused flooding on some farms and created mosquito infested ponds, which were fertile grounds for malaria epidemics.

Cultural issues came to the forefront. Ditch diggers who lived in shantytowns, who drank and cusses, who tore down fences caused consternation among the inhabitants who feared that the county was creating a permanent underclass. When the digging was done and the diggers gone they were replaces with another underclass, the boat drivers, who drank, cussed, robbed and hored making the areas adjoining the canal crime-ridden.

This book takes you to the time when the canal was being built and is a joy to read.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive book about an impressive public work, March 7, 2006

By 

Rocco Dormarunno (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862 (Paperback)

For too many people, the Erie Canal was simply an artificial waterway that opened the American west (back then) to the Atlantic, and, in the process made New York City a business entrepot. Carol Sheriff, in her book, "The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862" digs a lot deeper to reveal the complexities of "Clinton's Big Ditch". There were the engineering problems to be surmounted. There were financial considerations. There were the legal knots that plagued the Canal Commission. The relationship--even the definitions--of nature, art and technology became blurred to so many people.

But what I came away with the most was the utter chaos and disturbance the building and maintenance of the canal created. This was not a harmonious public work, dug by noble laborers, which enriched the lives and purses of the enitre populace. Instead, as Professor Sheriff demonstrates, there was a great deal of strife between the canal builders and the local residents. The wealth went to the few, and the builders got nothing--not even praise or thanks. This, in turn, created a new class of anonymous laborers which was counterpoint to the ideals of Republicanism. And, as Sheriff points out, DeWitt Clinton would have shook his head in disbelief, had he known this would have happened.

As a whole, however, "The Artificial River" reminds us of the tremendous efforts that went into the making of the Erie Canal. And equally impressive, is the tremendous effort Professor Sheriff put into this well-researched and quickly paced book.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent shock, September 6, 2001

By 

James Tudor (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862 (Paperback)

The Artificial River was a shock for me. I'll admit, I had to read this book for a 19th century American history class and I wasn't too happy. I felt something about the Civil War would be more interesting. And how interesting could an artifical river be anyways? Fortunatley, I didn't discard the book, but read it and I was completely shocked. Carol Sheriff has completed an amazing feat. This book about the Erie Canal pulled me into its world giving a tremendous feel of the 19th century world. Sheriff provides a look from all classes of society adjusting to the shifts of progress. This book at its core is just that, a society adjusting to rapid progress - progress that brings its perks and pitfalls.