October 26, 1825
BOOM! the Buffalo cannon thundered. It was echoed by a distant THOOMP from Black Rock to the north. Birds fluttered up in clouds from the bright fall treetops. Gun by gun, from Lake Erie, 363 miles down the amazing ribbon of water, and down the Hudson River to the sea, the news was signaled: after eight years of work, the Erie Canal was done.

The settling, the spreading out West: this book is part one, when the East - from where I sit, here in Missouri - was the West. Part two is the Pony Express book which symbolizes the great push to the Pacific Ocean. I was so taken by the notion of locks and men digging this huge ditch - 4 feet deep , 40 feet wide and 363 miles long: George Washington's dream of a water highway finally realized. And I was charmed by the idea of narrow, mule-drawn boats floating on a silvery ribbon of water threading through hill and dale - what fun to paint!