PART II EMIGRANT PERSPECTIVE
The US would purchase Alaska from Russia on 30 March 1867 for $7.2 million dollars, while Britain would approve the Rupert’s Land Act of 1868 for its transfer to Canada from the Company which, with an initial staff of a few hundred and later a few thousand, controlled the vast area for 200 years, thereby preserving it for Canada (Bown, 2021, 206 283 430-31). The western expansion of Canada would be delayed until the late 19 th century, after Rupert’s Land and the North-Western Territory were absorbed into the Dominion of Canada on 15 July 1870 . Manitoba, located at the center of Canada, would become its 5th Province on that date. 1825. The Port of Buffalo (US). The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 brought hundreds of thousands of New Englanders and immigrants from Europe to Buffalo, where they clambered aboard sailing vessels (primarily schooners and barks) and steamers with their worldly possessions, filled with hopes and dreams, bound over the lakes for the future states of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin (Jepson, 2023). As the century progressed the Great Lakes became vast highways on which manufactured goods, such as food, clothing, rope and farm implements, were shipped in from points east in return for local commodities, including iron ore, coal, stone, lumber, fence posts, shingles, produce and grain (ibid). 1825. The Lachine Canal (BNA) . Begun in 1821 this Canal, bypassing the Lachine Rapids above Montreal, was also completed in 1825 , allowing the direct passage of vessels up the St Lawrence River to Lake Ontario and avoiding long, costly portages. River height differential at the site and the volume of water flow made it ideal for power production with water wheels, such that sawmills and flour mills were relocated there.
Fig. 22. Great Lake Navigation Engineering Challenges in 19 th Century.
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