 Planning in the lightly populated state began in 1827 as New York had scored a major success with its Erie Canal.In 1836 the legislature allocated $10 million for an elaborate network of internal improvements, promoting canals, turnpikes, and railroads.The goal was to encourage settlement by providing easy, cheap access to the remotest corners of the state, linking every area to the Great Lakes and Ohio River, and thence to the Atlantic seaports and New Orleans.