that of the Erie Canal, which superseded it, its influence on the prosperity, the early and rapid settlement of western New York, is incalculable." However, Shaw concluded that "even with the company's works in operation the river boats could never supplant wagon carriage by land ... The canal builders of this period must be judged to have left a record more of failure than success." Nonetheless, thousands of workmen had learned the trades of canal builders, and the de facto engineers of the waterway had acquired experience and vision. Shaw writes that these men "bent on improving the navigation on the Mohawk at the turn of the century would be intimately involved with the New York canals for the remainder of their lives. Their experiences in canal making were being stored for future use. Limited as was their success, the efforts of these men to develop an inland water empire served as the first major step to the development of a greater project that would go far beyond Seneca Lake and Oswego, reaching its destination on the shores of Lake Erie." Closing of the Wood Creek to Oswego waterway In 1817 New York State chartered the Erie Canal, which would solve the myriad problems of the Albany-Oswego waterway by building a system of unprecedented size and sophistication. In 1820 the works of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company were purchased for the use of the Erie Canal, which bypassed the Wood Creek to Oswego portion of the old waterway in favor of a direct canal from Rome through Syracuse and Rochester to Buffalo, on Lake Erie. The Rome Canal and the waterway running west along Wood Creek to Oneida Lake were abandoned. The century when tiny Wood Creek was a channel for much of the cargo between the inlands of North America and the Atlantic seaboard had ended. References Further reading A detailed webpage describing the archaeology and history of the Wood Creek waterway. To celebrate the 1993 bicentennial of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, the New York State Museum sponsored the recreation of a batteau, Discovery, that was navigated and displayed around the state. The attempt to navigate upstream along Wood Creek is chronicled on this webpage. Brief description and map of the many forts built at the Oneida Carry. Canals in New York (state) Geography of Oneida County, New York Rome, New York