Robert Fulton
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The Barton Aqueduct which took the canal over the River Irwin.
It took about 7 miles to get from Lexington to Concord.
Louis Jolliet, the French-Canadian explorer, went through Lake Michigan to Green Bay, then followed the Fox River, through marshes, to the Wisconsin River. From the point of the later settlement of Portage, he continued exploring until he entered the Mississippi River near Prairie du Chien, meaning Jolliet was the first to explore and map the Mississippi River for Europe (obviously Native Americans had "discovered" the river previous to him). After mapping several hundred miles, Jolliet stopped within 500 miles of the Gulf of Mexico, where he turned back at the mouth of the Arkansas River. They followed the Mississippi back north and learned from local natives of the Illinois River, which was a shorter route back to the Great Lakes. He had turned back for fear of meeting other (Spanish in particular) European explorers.
Vicksburg and Port Hudson, two fortified ports on the Mississippi River, were important during the Civil War for their strategic location. Should the Union be able to take these Confederate strongholds, they would finally command the Mississippi River in its entirety. So long as these strongholds remained in Confederate hands, the South would remain unified and defiant of the Northern attempt to break it in two.
They tried to drive the French out of the Ohio river valley (APEX)