The largest animal that has ever lived. The blue whale is the largest animal ever known to have existed. During the 20th century, the species was an important whaling target and even after it was protected and commercial whaling stopped in 1964, exploitation efforts by the former Soviet Union persisted.
The Erie Canal is the place where the young United States, and its religiosity, ceased looking to the East and the past â Europe and New England â and began looking West and to the future â to a grand unfolding continent.
The Waterway has larger locks and deeper drafts than the lower Seaway, limiting large freighters to the four lakes upstream of the Welland Canal and Lake Ontario, and similarly restricting passage beyond the canal by larger ocean vessels. The two waterways are often jointly and simply referred to as the St. Lawrence Seaway, since the Great Lakes, together with the St. Lawrence River, comprise a single navigable body of freshwater linking the Atlantic Ocean to the continental interior.