Before 1809 bringing supplies around the Great Lakes required expensive and time-consuming horses and wagons. Connecting the eastern states to the western frontiers via a waterway seemed impossible. Ingenuity and moxie led DeWitt Clinton on the difficult task to build a canal connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the stirring fresh water lakes. Many skeptics spoke of foolishness and costs. The war of 1812 stopped the work but not the dream. Read this 13-page epic to find out how Irish immigrants and 363 miles of flat-out hard work created one of the eras most celebrated modern marvels of progress in 1825.