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
Rideau Canal canal to Kingston and out into Lake Ontario. The objective was to bypass the stretch of the St. Lawrence bordering New York; a route which would have left British supply ships vulnerable to an attack or a blockade of the St. Lawrence. The canal also served a commercial purpose. The Rideau Canal was easier to navigate than the St. Lawrence River because of the series of rapids between Montreal and Kingston. As a result, the Rideau Canal became a busy commercial artery from Montreal to the Great Lakes. However, by 1849, the rapids of the St. Lawrence had been tamed