Great Lakes nations maintain coast guard vessels in the Great Lakes. During settlement, the Great Lakes and its rivers were the only practical means of moving people and freight. Barges from middle North America were able to reach the Atlantic Ocean from the Great Lakes when the Welland canal opened in 1824 and the later Erie Canal opened in 1825. By 1848, with the opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal at Chicago, direct access to the Mississippi River was possible from the lakes. With these two canals an all-inland water route was provided between New York City and New Orleans. The
Newichawannock Canal Newichawannock Canal The Newichawannock Canal is a man-made canal which drains Great East Lake into Horn Pond at the border between Wakefield, New Hampshire, and Acton, Maine, in the northeastern United States. It is at the head of the Salmon Falls River, which the Abenaki called "Newichawannock", meaning "river with many falls". Begun in 1850 by the Great Falls Company to increase the water available for its mills in Somersworth, New Hampshire, the canal is unusual as it was built for strictly industrial purposes in an area remote from the actual industrial site. The canal forms the boundary between the