Erie Canal

Connected the Hudson River to Lake Erie.

Completed 1825.

Circumvented Niagara Falls.

Route and lakes: 

• the route:
• origin: Cohoes, north of Troy, north of Albany.
• via: Schenectady, Syracuse, Rochester,  
• terminus: Niagara Falls / Buffalo (New York) -- Lake Erie (Lake Ontario is on north side of Niagara Falls)
• the lakes: 
• Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron (east side of Michigan), Lake Michigan (west side of Michigan), Lake Superior. 
• Lake Michigan is the outlier: the other four are "in line." Lake Michigan is south of the line of the other "Great Lakes." 

This is really cool.

The canal:

• from the Atlantic Ocean
• the Hudson River on the west side of NYC
• up to the capital of New York state
• several major cities grow along the canal in New York state
• ends at Buffalo, NY (co-located with Niagara Falls
• below Niagara Falls

Personal note, with relaitonship to Westfield, NJ: 

• about a 2-hour drive from Westfield, NJ, to the Poconos, northeastern Pennsylvania, north of Allentown, PA.
• from Harrisburg, PA, to Westfield, NJ, on I-78, about 2.5 hours. The route would have taken me through Allentown, just south of the Poconos.