In 1817, New York decided to cut a river across 363 miles of swamp, forest, and rock. Hudson River to Lake Erie. Engineers said it was impossible. The U.S. had never built a canal over 28 miles. No engineers signed up. So farmers and Irish immigrants dug it. 50,000 men with shovels, wheelbarrows, and black powder. Pay was 80 cents a day plus whiskey. They dug through Montezuma Swamp — malaria killed 1,000 men in one summer. They called it “digging their graves.” They blasted through limestone at Lockport with gunpowder. One bad fuse and you were gone. Boys carried powder kegs. 8-year-olds. They invented American engineering on the job. No cement existed, so they found natural rock in New York that hardened underwater. They invented it. Called it “Rosendale cement.” It built the Brooklyn Bridge later. In 1825 they opened it. Governor Clinton poured Lake Erie water into the Hudson. They called it “Wedding of the Waters.” Freight cost dropped from $100 a ton to $10. New York City became New York City. 1,000 men died and are buried in unmarked ditches along Route 31. No monument. The canal paid for itself in 7 years.