On Wednesday, September 24, the entire junior class of The Wardlaw-Hartridge School traveled to Griggstown New Jersey to visit the Griggstown Canal. The day was enjoyed enjoyed by learning the background of this historical town, canoeing, and spending valuable time with classmates. Almost every classmate enjoyed their time canoeing, accepting the challenges of working with others in a canoe with some people who may or may not have ever paddled in a canoe before, even though some were not extremely successful. The task that our group was assigned to discuss the functioning and how the a lock works. We learned about the locks from listening to a man who rented us the canals, conversing with Mr. Gilbert and looking up additional information on the internet. …show more content…
There are different types of canals that perform different jobs. The canals are built for a variety of uses, including irrigation, land drainage, urban water supply, hydroelectric power generation, and transportation of cargo and people (How Products are Made.) In Griggstown, New Jersey our group looked at a transportation canal. These types of canals are used to transport goods and people to distant locations. A famous example is the Panama Canal. President Theodore Roosevelt oversaw this project and he was able to get it built by 1903 - 1914. This canal was special because throughout the 1800s, American and British businessmen wanted to ship goods quickly and cheaply between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts (Building the Panama Canal.) Serving as a shortcut to both oceans the Panama Canal became very popular. However, it is never the canal that gets the credit. A key part are the locks, and they help ships ascend and descend while sailing on the