Derisively labeled "Clinton's Ditch."
This project was first envisioned by its developer, Jesse Hawley, while in debtor's prison for going bankrupt from a business scheme that shipped grain along the Atlantic. Branches of this transportation project include the Oswego and Cayuga-Seneca. Over one thousand workers, mostly Irish immigrants, died working on the first phase of this waterway, which ended at Utica. The "Flight of Five Locks" lifts boats 80 feet up the Niagara Escarpment on this man-made waterway. Derisively labeled "Clinton's Ditch." FTP, name this waterway that connects the Hudson River to its namesake Great Lake. 
This project was first envisioned by its developer, Jesse Hawley, while in debtor's prison for going bankrupt from a business scheme that shipped grain along the Atlantic.
Erie Canal