【单选题】

TheErieCanal was the first important national waterway built in the US. It crossed New York fromBuffalo on LakeErie Troy toAlbany on the Hudson River. It joined the Great Lakes with theAtlantic Ocean. The canal served as a route over which industrial goods could flow into the west, and materials could pour into the east. TheErieCanal helped New York develop into the nation’s largest city.

The building of the canal was paid for entirely by the state of New York. It cost $7,143,789, but it soon gained its price many times over.Between 1825, when the canal was opened, and 1882, when toll charges(过运河费) were stopped, the state collected $121,461,891.
For a hundred years before theErie was built, people had been talking about a canal which could join the Great Lakes and theAtlantic Ocean. The man who planned theErieCanal and carried the plan through wasDe WittClinton. Those who were against the canal laughingly called it "Clinton’sDitch(沟)".Clinton talked and wrote about the canal and drew up plans for it. He and Governor Morris went to Washington in 1812 to ask for help for the canal, but they were unsuccessful.
Clinton became governor of New York in 1817, and shortly afterwards, on July 4, 1817, broke ground for the canal in Rome, N.Y. The first part of the canal was completed in 1820.As the canal grew, towns along its course developed fast. The length of the canal is 363 miles.
It can be inferred that______into theAtlantic Ocean.
A、the Great Lakes flow
B．the Hudson River flows
C．LakeErie flows
D．theErieCanal flows