Montgomery County, New York the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.8%) is water. Montgomery County is located in the central part of the state, west of the city of Schenectady and northwest of Albany. The Erie Canal runs through Montgomery County parallel to the Mohawk River, connecting to the Wood River to the west, which leads to Lake Ontario. Overall, the canal connected Great Lakes shipping with the Hudson River and the port of New York on the Atlantic Ocean. Several towns and villages developed along the canal, as it carried much trade and passenger traffic during
Great Lakes region area urban planners call the Great Lakes Megalopolis, which has an estimated 59 million people. Chicago is emerging as the third megacity in the United States, after the New York City and Los Angeles metropolitan areas, with a metro population approaching ten million. Cities along the Great Lakes have access to the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Lawrence Seaway, making them international ports. The Palaeozoic strata, are but parts of a great area of similar strata hundreds of feet in thickness. These strata decline gently southward from the great upland of the Laurentian Highlands of eastern Canada. The visible upland