Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 13).djvu/19



ANALS are of two classes, those admitting large and those admitting small craft; the former are technically known as ship canals, the latter, barge canals. It is, of course, the barge canal, in its relation to the western movement of the American people, that agrees in all essentials with our present study of Historic Highways and which should be considered in any study of the subject.

The subject of fast and safe transportation of freight has become so commonplace in our day of railways that it is with difficulty that we catch any true idea of the economic importance to our forefathers of the invention and general use of such an ordinary thing as a good wagon. The meaning of the successful opening of a great canal, such as the Erie Canal, can hardly be understood unless one has known