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The oldest completed canals in the United States are the South Hadley and Montague Canals of Massachusetts, both undertaken by a company chartered in 1792. They are two and three miles long respectively, passing through the rapids at South Hadley and the Montague Falls on the Connecticut River. The Middlesex Canal, connecting Boston harbor with the Merrimac, was completed in 1808. The Erie Canal, largest and most important in this country, connecting the Hudson River at Albany and Troy with Lake Erie at Buffalo, was projected by DeWitt Clinton, and begun in 1817. It was completed in 1825. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the outcome of a project for improving navigation on the Potomac River by General Washington, was begun by the Board of Public Works of Virginia in 1820 and completed in 1850. It extends from Georgetown to Cumberland, 184 miles. The Delaware and Hudson Canal, constructed by a company for the transportation of coal, was completed in 1829. It extends from Rondout to Port Jervis, 108 miles. The Schuylkill Coal and Navigation Canal, extending from Mill Creek to Philadelphia, 108 miles, was begun in 1816 and completed in 1825. The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Canal, from Easton to Coalport, was begun in 1821 and completed in 1829. The chief period of canal construction was from about 1820 to about 1840, when railroads began to supplant them. In 1880 there were about 2500 miles of canals in operation, while about 2000 miles had been abandoned. For interoceanic canals, see arts. Panama Canal and Nicaragua Canal.