We learned that the Panama Canal was built to create a shortcut for ships between North and South America. It saved time for ships traveling between cities on the East and West Coasts of the United States, since they no longer had to travel all the way around the tip of South America to get from one side of the U.S. to the other. And it made travel to other places much easier too.

When a convenient water route didn't exist… people built one!

That is the story of the Panama Canal. And it is the story of many other canals as well. Because Panama wasn't the only place people dug a canal to make trade and transportation easier.

There are many canals in the United States that were used to help people move goods around the country.

Canal barges were pulled by horses or mules that walked on a 'towpath' on the side of the canal. It was slow going, but a lot easier and faster than loading goods into wagons.

Even as the canal helped farmers in the inland parts of Ohio, it also helped the city of Cleveland - which is located on the shores of Lake Erie - become a major 19th century port city. Because of the canal, goods could get from other ports on the Great Lakes to Cleveland and then from there down the canal all the way to the Ohio River. The canal opened up the entire state to easier trade.

The Ohio & Erie Canal didn't operate for very long, however. By the 1860s, railroads had come to Ohio, and they proved a faster way of moving freight than the canal.

Today, the Ohio & Erie Canal is just a memory. But it's a memory that is being kept alive, thanks to parks and trails along much of its length.

And although the Ohio & Erie Canal no longer carries goods, it still has a link to its canal neighbor to the south, the Panama Canal. You see, scientists have learned that many birds - including the yellow warbler - migrate between the Ohio & Erie Canal and the Panama Canal each year.

Following this discovery, the Cleveland Metroparks in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Parque Natural Metropolitano de Panama in Panama City have teamed up in a project called "Canal to Canal." Their goal is to help people learn more about the two waterways and their habitats and to protect the animals and birds that rely on them.

Canals play many important roles… but when the people in Ohio and Panama built their canals long ago, they were probably focused on the canals' work helping to move freight and people. They probably didn't know anything at all about the canals' part in the migration of birds!

Check out past Trade Topics entries!