Canal when the War of 1812 broke out; these were the Santee Canal (opened 1800) in South Carolina, the Middlesex Canal (opened 1802) in Massachusetts and the Dismal Swamp Canal (opened 1805) in Virginia. The Erie Canal (opened 1825) was chartered and owned by the state of New York and financed by bonds bought by private investors. The Erie canal runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie. The Hudson River connects Albany to the Atlantic port of New York City and the Erie Canal completed a navigable water route from the
Milo, New York area of , of which, of it is land and of it (13.37%) is water. Milo lies between Keuka Lake and Seneca Lake, which define respectively the west and east town lines and are two of the Finger Lakes. The Keuka Lake Outlet flows between the lakes in the north part of the town and helped determine the course of the Crooked Lake Canal. New York State Route 14, New York State Route 14A, and New York State Route 54 are north-south highways in the town. As of the census of 2000, there were 7,026 people, 2,824 households, and 1,790