'Carol Sheriff’s The Artificial River Essay\r'

'APUS, betterition 4 Mr. Gordinier January 8th, 2013 All situations and topics have multiple views and perspectives to them. A paradox exhibits contradictory aspects in which thither is not either a single good or a bad, positive or negative. In The cardboard River The Erie channel and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862, written by chirrup Sheriff, there are many different examples of paradoxes. Towns ab initio saw the groove having a negative feign on them, hardly realized it could help. The provide provided for straightaway conveying, but in the case of a disrupt would take a long time to line up from.\r\nAlso occupationmen benefitted from the duct, but other disordered a lot of property because of it. The canal provided dramatic change to the up sound out New York area. In both(prenominal) cases this change resulted in change stateity and in others it resulted in failure and loss. At the time prior to construction the canalize many negative impacts were the only things universe considered. In 1826, a transmission channel wit was implant up to deal with many of these complaints and problems.\r\nMost of the agreements and compromises were show through contracts do between the television channel Board and the great deal of the towns. Individuals questioned the right to take land to frame of reference the canal, water resources organism used, and also commercial-grade structures organism dumbfound on the Canal. The thought of how much these commercial structures could drastically benefit these towns were not contemplated. When the Canal was built towns all along the way of life from everyplaceawe to capital of New York prospered from the revenue and the attraction the Canal brought with it. Whether the Canal was being used for business people, immigrants, settlers of the region, or tourists, the border-towns all had some appeal to these persons. After some time the state was continually asked to expand the Canal from the or iginal track to include connecting canal routes.\r\nHowever, the same towns along the route from Buffalo to Albany had already been established along the lines of the original canal. These towns would need to be relocated in order to obey these new requests. This presented a major problem because the people in these towns had formed a life around the Canal and many of them made their income based of the Canal. The inhabitants of the towns changed their mentality from not wanting the Canal to invade on their lives, to it being an essential part of their lives they depended upon. The Erie Canal provided an extremely fast source of carry-over compared to other ones of that time.\r\nA lot of the land that the Canal went through was uninhabited and therefore people weren’t able to move through these areas. formerly the Canal was built it god as that pathway through these areas. The Canal also was a much cheaper source of dose that was used by residents, tourists, emigrants, and workers during this time. Evangelical preachers used the drippy river to seek salvation among these people. Also the Canal helped to serve as an underground railroad, transporting slaves from Syracuse to Buffalo, near the Canadian border (Sheriff 53).\r\nThe Canal not only sped up deportee, but also cost much less(prenominal) for goods to be delivered. Before the Canal goods from Albany to Buffalo would increase to five or six clock their actual value just because of transportation. This helped business prosper and served as a positive aspect for the Canal. Although transportation was faster if a boat along the Canal fragmentiseed it would hold things up for a long time. A boat crashing had a chain effect on other boats because they then would be slowed down as well. People would not get where they needed to be on time was well as goods. A lot of the times if a boat did crash the goods were not able to be salvaged and hurt the business that owned them. There was also the i ssue of going away under bridges and how low they were.\r\nIn a play of William Dunlap the brother of Amelia describes the inconvenience this was saying â€Å"In constant dread of lifting your head above your knees for fright of having it knock’d off your shoulders by a bridge” (Sheriff 55). Inconveniences such(prenominal) as these eventually further travelers to find a different source of transportation; the railroad. The railroad had reinforcement over the Canal in the fact that it could run all year round. Individuals took advantage of the Canal and used it to help themselves gain profit. business community and entrepreneurs saw the Canal as an opportunity to make money.\r\nSome bought their own boats and turned them into their business place. Boats were change to stores and markets in which people would buy off of them. craft was not only done on the Canal, but other men would use all the people, especially tourists, and try to sell consumer goods to them. A lot of times these vendors would scam people buying from them.\r\nThey would sell form remedies with false claims. Many times they would also administer counterfeit bills for items of actual value. The Canal helped solo merchants in a way that had never been done before. On the other hand the Canal was also in truth detrimental to many people as well. The people it affected were those whose land and water supply it had taken. When the Canal was built it ruined early settlers property such as the Archbalds. Frequently properties were cut in half. Once water was let into the Canal it caused a turn of events of problems. Majorly because of poor workmanship and laziness water would teem out of the Canal and into farmers’ land. Fields and basements would be flooded, line would be injured, and gardens would be damaged. Also the workers feet would trample over fields, showing no regard or precaution of their environs.\r\nOne farmer claimed that workers torn down his debate simply for their own amusement. Without a healthy fall of crops the farmers would not make as much money and financially were negatively affected by the Canal. The Erie Canal had widely varying results on the people it impacted. business community and entrepreneurs received financial success through the Canal while farmers and people already established along the lines of the Canal seemed to be negatively affected by it. There is no question transportation was faster and cheaper than any other source around that time. Communities and towns both benefitted from the Canal being around them. Initially there was a great amount of hype surrounding the Canal and all this hype brought people. Businesses thrived off these tourists and newcomers. Positives and negatives came from the hatchway of the artificial river that would change history forever.\r\n'