Hudson River Estuarine Research Reserve System as the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve. The Hudson River is navigable by large steamers up to Troy, and by ocean-faring vessels to the Port of Albany. The original Erie Canal, opened in 1825 to connect the Hudson with Lake Erie, emptied into the Hudson at the Albany Basin, just south of the Federal Dam in Troy (at mile 134). The canal enabled shipping between cities on the Great Lakes and Europe via the Atlantic Ocean. The New York State Canal System, the successor to the Erie Canal, runs into the Hudson River north of
Erie Canal Commission of these bodies. Afterwards the canal commissioners were minor state cabinet officers responsible for the maintenance and improvements of the state's canals. The office of Canal Commissioner was abolished in 1876, and their responsibilities were taken over by the Superintendent of Public Works in February 1878. The Canal Fund and the Canal Board were abolished in 1905. As the United States expanded into western New York and the Northwest Territory, the Great Lakes became an essential part of the system of waterways, on which merchants did most of their shipping. The easiest way from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic