  439 M. BUFFALO, Pop. 506,775.(Train 51 arrives 5:30; No. 3, passes 7:15; No. 41, 11:45; No. 25, 11:51; No. 19, 3:55. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 11:31; No. 26, 12:27; No. 16, 4:35; No. 22, 7:15.) French trappers and Jesuit missionaries were the first white men to visit the site of Buffalo, and near here, on the east bank of the Niagara River at the mouth of Cayuga Creek, La Salle in 1679 built the "Griffin," with which he sailed up the Great Lakes to Green Bay, Wis. He also built Ft. Conti at the mouth of the river, but this was burned in the following year. Seven years later the marquis of Denonville in behalf of the French built here another fort, the predecessor of the various fortifications in this locality which were subsequently called Ft. Niagara. Port of Buffalo on Lake Erie, 1815 Port of Buffalo on Lake Erie, 1815 Although the neighborhood was the scene of various operations during the War of Independence, not a single white settler was living on the site of the present city when the federal constitution was adopted in 1787, and the town was At an early period (1784) the present site of the city of Buffalo had come to be known as the "Buffalo Creek region," either from the herds of buffalo or bison, which, according to Indian tradition, had frequented the salt licks of the creek, or more probably for some Indian chief. During the War of 1812 Buffalo was a frontier town, and, owing to its position on Lake Erie, very close to an important theater of operations. The first gun of the war is said to have been fired on Aug. 13, by a battery at Black Rock, then a rival, now a suburb of Buffalo, and shortly afterwards British soldiers from the Canadian garrison at Ft. Erie (directly across the Niagara River from Buffalo) made a raid into Buffalo harbour and captured the schooner "Connecticut." The Americans replied with a brilliant exploit in which Lieut. Jesse D. Elliott (1782-1845) crossed the river and captured the "Detroit" and the "Caledonia" under the guns of Ft. Erie. The ruins of Ft. Erie are among the most picturesque features of the region about Buffalo. The fort was captured in 1814 by an American force under Gen. Winfield Scott, and was held by the Americans till the end of the war, despite the efforts of a British besieging force to dislodge them. At the close of hostilities the Americans blew up the fort. In the following spring (1812) five of the gunboats used by Capt. Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie were fitted out in the harbour at Buffalo. Perry's victory, however, did not save the little settlement from an attack in Dec. of that year in which Gen. Sir Phineas Riall and a force of 1,200 British and Indians captured the town and almost completely destroyed it. After the war the town was rebuilt, and grew rapidly. In 1818, near where La Salle in 1679 built his little sailing vessel, the "Griffin," a group of N.Y. capitalists completed the "Walk-in-the-Water," the first steamboat on the Great Lakes. The completion of the Erie Canal, seven years later, with Buffalo as its western terminus, greatly increased the city's importance. At Buffalo in 1848 met the Free Soil convention that nominated Martin Van Buren for the presidency and Charles Francis Adams for the vice-presidency. Stephen Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) was born, fifth in a family of nine children, in the town of Caldwell, Essex County, N.J. He came of good colonial stock, but the death of his father prevented his receiving a college education. About 1855 he drifted westward with $25 in his pocket, and not long afterward began to read law in a law office in Buffalo, where he was admitted to the bar in 1859. He was assistant district attorney of Erie County, of which Buffalo is the chief city, in 1863, was elected sheriff on the Democratic ticket in 1869, and mayor of Buffalo in 1881, although the city was normally Republican. As mayor he attracted wide attention by his independence and business-like methods—qualities which distinguished his entire career. After his election as governor in the following year, the Democratic party chose him as their candidate against James G. Blaine. He was the first Democrat to be elected president for 24 years. His administration was marked by firmness and justice; he stood staunchly by the new civil service law, and during his first term vetoed 413 bills, more than two-thirds of which were private pension bills. He vigorously attacked the high tariff laws then in effect, but the administration tariff bill was blocked by his Republican opponents. In 1888 Cleveland was defeated for re-election by Benjamin Harrison, but in 1892 he was again nominated and defeated President Harrison by a large majority. The most important event of his second administration was the repeal of the silver legislation which had been a growing menace for 15 years. The panic of 1893 was accompanied by an outbreak of labor troubles, the most serious of which was the Pullman strike at Chicago (1894). When Gov. Altgeld of Illinois failed to act, President Cleveland sent troops to Chicago to clear the way for mail trains, and the strike was settled within a week. He also acted decisively in the Venezuela affair, with the result that Great Britain agreed to arbitrate on terms which safeguarded the national dignity on both sides. At the end of his term, Cleveland retired to Princeton, N.J. The Pan-American Exposition in celebration of the progress of the Western Hemisphere in the 19th century, was held here May 1-Nov. 2, 1901. It was during a reception in the Temple of Music on the Exposition grounds that President McKinley was assassinated on Sept. 6. He died at the home of John A. Milburn, the president of the exposition. President McKinley's assassin was Leon Czolgosz, a young man of Polish parentage, who shot the president with a revolver at close range. For a while it was thought that the president would recover, but he collapsed and died on Sept. 14, 1901. Czolgosz professed to belong to the school of anarchists who believe in violence. He was executed in October, 1901. Buffalo today has broad and spacious streets and a park system (1,229 acres) of unusual beauty. The largest park is Delaware Park (362 acres), on the north side of the city. This park is adjoined on the south by the Forest Lawn Cemetery which contains monuments to Millard Fillmore and the Indian chief "Red Jacket." Millard Fillmore (1800-1874), 13th president of the U.S., was born in East Aurora, a little village 14 M. from Buffalo, and practiced law in Buffalo. He served several terms as member of Congress and in 1848 was elected vice-president on the Whig ticket, with Zachery Taylor as president. President Taylor died July 9, 1850, and on the next day Fillmore took the oath of office as his successor. He favored the "Compromise Measures," designed to pacify the South, and signed the Fugitive Slave Law. In 1852 he was an unsuccessful candidate for nomination for the presidency at the Whig National Convention. Red Jacket (1751-1830) was a famous Seneca chief and friend of the whites. He was faithful to the whites when approached by Tecumseh and the "Prophet" in their scheme to combine all of the Indians from Canada to Florida in a great Confederacy. In the War of 1812, he assisted the Americans. By many he was considered the greatest orator of his race. To the west of the park are the grounds of the Buffalo State Hospital for the Insane. Overlooking the lake on a cliff 60 ft. high, is the park known as "The Front," the site of Ft. Porter, which has a garrison of U.S. Soldiers. The University of Buffalo, organized in 1845, has about 1,000 students and comprises schools of medicine, law, dentistry and pharmacy. Other educational institutions of Buffalo are the Canisius College, a Roman Catholic (Jesuit) institution for men, and the Martin Luther Seminary, a Almost equidistant from Chicago and N.Y.C., the city of Buffalo, by reason of its favorable location in respect to lake transportation and its position on the principal northern trade route between the East and the West, has become one of the important commercial and industrial centres in the Union. Originally, the harbour was only the shallow mouth of the Buffalo River, but it has been greatly enlarged and improved by extensive federal work. The Welland Canal, about 25 M. west of Buffalo, connects Lake Erie with the St. Lawrence River. The annual tonnage of the port of Buffalo is upwards of 20,000,000 tons. The total export trade is close to $100,000,000. Besides being the first port in the country in handling horses, sheep, cattle and hogs, it receives immense quantities of lumber, pig iron and ore and has more than a score of huge grain elevators with a capacity of about 30,000,000 bushels. In the manufacturing field it has two great advantages: a supply of natural gas and almost unlimited electric power from Niagara Falls. Its total annual output is valued at approximately $400,000,000, and its manufactures include meat packing, foundry and machine shop products, flour, steel, linseed oil, railroad cars, clothing, chemicals, furniture, automobiles, jewelry, confectionery and tobacco. Buffalo is connected with the Canadian shore by ferry and by the International Bridge, completed in 1873 at a cost of $1,500,000. Niagara Falls, while it is not on the main route to Chicago is best reached from Buffalo, from which it is only 32 miles distant, and travellers so easily can stop over to make the little side trip that it is virtually a part of the journey westward. The fall of Niagara in the Province of New York. A Colonial Print (1762) in the N.Y. Public Library Niagara Falls.Of the seven natural wonders of the American world, which are given as Yellowstone Park, Garden of the Gods, Mammoth Cave, Niagara Falls, the Natural Bridge, Yosemite Valley, and the Giant Trees of California, by far the greatest spectacle is Niagara. The name means "thunder of the waters," and was given by the early Indians Probably the first white man to discover the Falls was Etienne BrulÉ, an associate and trusted comrade of Champlain; but the first chronicler and the man to whom honour of discovery is usually given, is Father Hennepin, founder of the monastery at Ft. Frontenac in Quebec, who in 1678 joined La Salle's Mississippi expedition, and pushing on a few days journey ahead of his commander, came upon the wonderful waters described in his Louisiane Nouvelle (1698). The French built some trading posts here and their influence prevailed until 1759, when the British, driving the French northward overthrew their fortifications and took possession of the land. When the Revolution broke out some years later, the Indians, terrible and unscrupulous wagers of guerilla warfare, fought on the British side. The Niagara River, upon which the Falls are situated, 22 M. from its head in Lake Erie, and 14 M. from its mouth in Lake Ontario, forms the outlet of four of the five Great Lakes (Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior). It descends about 330 ft. in its course of 36 M. About 15 M. from Lake Erie the river narrows and the rapids begin. In the last three quarters of a mile above the falls, the water descends 55 ft. and the velocity is enormous. The basin of the Falls has a depth of from 100 to 192 ft. During cold winters the spray covers the grass and trees in the park along the cliff with a delicate veneer of ice, while below the Falls it is tossed up and frozen into a solid arch. Adjoining the left (Canadian) bank is the greater division, Horseshoe Fall, 155 ft. high and curving to a breadth of 2,600 ft. The American Fall, adjoining the right bank, is 162 ft. high and about 1,400 ft. broad. In recognition of their Æsthetic value the province of Ontario and the State of New York have reserved the adjacent land as public parks. In the midst of the Rapids lies a little group of islands, among them the famous Goat Island. Besides the wonderful view it affords, its western end gives a unique example of absolutely virgin forest. The Indians used to fish and hunt, crossing the Rapids on foot and supporting their steps with tall wooden poles spiked with iron. The necessity, on one occasion, of saving two marooned comrades on the island, taught them this means of crossing, which they had never before attempted. The Niagara River runs half its length on an upper plain, then drops at the falls into a narrow gorge through which The Canadian and American shores are connected by three bridges, one of which a suspension carrying all classes of traffic, is 1,240 ft. long. The flow of water in the river averages 222,000 cubic ft. per second, though it sometimes falls as low as 176,000 cubic ft. On March 29, 1848, Niagara ran dry, and persons walked in the rocky channel bed of the American Rapids between Goat Island and the mainland. This phenomenon, never known before or since, was due to these facts. Lake Erie was full of floating ice flowing to its outlet, the source of Niagara River. During the previous afternoon a heavy northeast wind had driven the ice back into the lake, and during the night the wind, suddenly veering, blew a gale from the west which forced the ice floe sharply into a mass in the narrow channel of the river, where it froze. Thus, when the water on the lower side of the barrier drained off, the Niagara River and the American Fall were dry, and the Canadian Fall a mere trickle. This extraordinary condition lasted for a whole day. Thus the descent of this stream at the Falls and in the Rapids just above them gives in theory a water-power of nearly 4,000,000 lip., three-fourths of which is estimated as available. This maximum could be obtained only by sacrificing the beauty of the Falls—in fact diverting the river from its channel so that the cataract as a scenic feature would be destroyed. To combat this commercial vandalism an association for the protection of the Falls has been formed. There were before 1918 several companies with power-producing plants, the largest of which was the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company. This company had made an extensive beginning in utilization of the water fall by a tunnel 29 ft. deep and 18 ft. wide, passing about 200 ft.. below the surface of the city from a point 1¼ M. above the Falls to the upper steel arch bridge. 510 M. DUNKIRK, Pop. 19,366.(Train 3 passes 8:23; No. 41, 1:00; No. 25, 12:45; No. 19, 4:57. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 10:24; No. 26, 11:26; No. 16, 3:10; No. 22, 6:08.) Dunkirk, settled about 1805, has a fine harbour and extensive lake trade, and lies, moreover, in fertile agricultural and grape-growing country. The property of the town, assessed at $10,000,000 is chiefly in factories producing locomotives, radiators and other steel and iron products, wagons, silk gloves, and concrete blocks. There are several pleasant parks, of which Gratiot and Washington are the largest. Brocton (519 M.) and Westfield (526 M.) are junctions for travellers bound for Chautauqua (about 20 M. south of Brocton on Chautauqua Lake), the principal seat of the Chautauqua educational movement. The Chautauqua movement, instituted more than 46 years ago in the west, has here its largest station. Each summer 15,000 or 20,000 people from all over the country assemble here to take courses in a great variety of subjects, from Italian Primitivism to Camp Cookery. Chautauqua makes its chief appeal, perhaps, to the middle-aged and elderly who in their youth were working too hard to have had any opportunities for study. Just beyond Ripley (534 M.) we cross the state line into Pennsylvania. 557 M. ERIE, Pop. 93,372.(Train 3 passes 9:30; No. 41, 2:06; No. 25, 1:36; No. 19, 5:59. Eastbound No. 6 passes 9:25; No. 26, 10:30; No. 16, 2:03; No. 22, 5:08.) Erie stands on the site of the old French fort Presque Isle, built in 1753 and surrounded by a village of a few hundred inhabitants. Although Washington protested on behalf of the Governor of Va. against the French occupation of this territory, it remained in French hands until 1758 when an epidemic of small-pox broke out, making the fort untenable. Two years later the British seized it, and three years after the Indians, rising against their white rulers in the Conspiracy of Pontiac, took possession. In 1765 the British recaptured the fort and kept it until 1785, when it passed into the possession of the U.S. Gen. Anthony Wayne, who was given the task of occupying Certain hostile tribes in northwest of Ohio who had defeated Gen. St. Clair in 1791, sent away in scorn a mission asking permission for white men to settle beyond the Ohio (1793). Wayne, angry at this insolence, gathered together some troops of the recently organized American army and after having given the Indians one more chance of a peaceable settlement, defeated them thoroughly in the battle of Fallen Timbers, 80 miles north of Cincinnati. By the resulting treaty of Greenville, he opened up the northwest to civilization. In spite of the necessary severity of the punishment meted out to the Indians by the new government through the agency of Wayne, no part of Washington's administration, domestic or foreign, was more original or more benign than the policy he constantly urged toward them. To save them from the frauds of traders a national system of trade was adopted, and a number of laws were passed to protect them from the aggressions of borderers, as well as to secure them in the rights allowed them in their treaties. The battle of Lake Erie (1813) was closely associated with the city. Here were Perry's headquarters during the War of 1812, and here he built in less than six months many of the vessels with which he won his naval victory over the British. Erie is now an important manufacturing centre, the products of which are valued at between $40,000,000 and $50,000,000. A large branch of the General Electric Co. is here, besides important factories for flour and grist mill products, paper and wood pulp, organs, petroleum, etc. The leading articles of shipment are lumber, coal, grain and iron ore. Over 1,400 ships a year enter and clear the broad, landlocked harbour. On a bluff overlooking lake and city, is the State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, and nearby, a monument to Gen. Wayne. Between Springfield (577 M.) and Conneaut we cross the state line into Ohio. 584 M. CONNEAUT, Pop. 9,000.(Train 3 passes 10:08; No. 41, 2:39; No. 25, 2:04; No. 19, 6:34. The first permanent settlement was made here in 1799 though a preliminary surveying party composed of Moses Cleaveland, the founder of the city of Cleveland, and 50 associates, two of whom were women, had arrived in 1796 and found 20 or 30 cabins of the Massauga tribe. In his journal Cleaveland gives a description of the arrival here, "on the creek Conneaugh, in New Connecticut Land," July 4, 1796. "We gave three cheers," he continues, "and christened the place Ft. Independence, and, after many difficulties, perplexities and hardships were surmounted and we were on the good and promised land, felt that a just tribute of respect to the day ought to be paid. There were in all, including women and children, 50 in number. The men under Capt. Tinker, ranged themselves on the beach and fired a Federal Salute of 15 rounds, and then the 16th in honor of New Conn. Drank several toasts. Closed with three cheers. Drank several pints of grog. Supped and returned in good order." After the whites had established themselves, the Indians were driven out for having murdered a settler. The country of Ashtabula in which Conneaut stands was not only the first settled on the Western Reserve, but the first in Northern Ohio, and the town is sometimes called the "Plymouth" of the Western Reserve. Conneaut, which means in the Seneca language "many fish," is built at the mouth of Conneaut Creek in what is now a thriving agricultural and dairying region on Lake Erie. Besides being an excellent harbour to which coal and ore are shipped, the city has flour and planing mills, tanneries, canneries, and other factories. 595 M. ASHTABULA, Pop. 22,082.(Train 3 passes 10:29; No. 41, 3:06; No. 25, 2:19; No. 19, 6:50. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:34; No. 26, 9:44; No. 16, 1:00; No. 22, 4:16.) Settlers were attracted to the site of the present town of Ashtabula (an Indian word said to mean "fish river") in 1801 by the excellent harbour here, formed by the mouth of the Ashtabula River. The city is built on the high bank of the river about 75 ft. above the lake and commands some fine views. There are large green-houses under glass from which forced fruit and vegetables are shipped to Pittsburgh and other large cities. It is the centre of a prosperous agricultural and dairying region which has been largely settled by Finns. Ashtabula is one of the most important ports in America for the shipment of iron ore and coal. Iron ore especially, is brought here in enormous quantities by boat and trans-shipped to Pittsburgh. The shipyards and drydocks in the harbour, and the huge machines for loading coal and unloading 602 M. GENEVA, Pop. 3,081.(Train 3 passes, 10:42; No. 41, 3:18; No. 25, 2:29; No. 19, 7:03. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:22; No. 26, 9:32; No. 16, 12:39; No. 22, 4:02.) Geneva is built close to the site of the early Indian village Kanadasaga, burnt in 1779. In that year Gen. Sullivan was despatched at the head of an expedition against the Indians of Western N.Y., who had taken up arms for the British and had been guilty of the terrible Wyoming and Cherry Valley massacres. Kanadasaga was one of the Indian "council hearths" destroyed, and tribes in this region were driven westward, never to recover their old power. In addition to the lake, there are good mineral springs. According to Duncan Ingraham, a Massachusetts traveller who wrote an account of a journey in 1792, the town then consisted "of about 20 log houses, three or four frame buildings, and as many idle persons as can live in them." Some of these old houses along the main street are of pure Colonial type, and really beautiful. Hobart College, founded 1822, is situated here. Malt, tinware, flour, stoves, wall-paper, etc., are manufactured, and there are also extensive nurseries. 622 M. PAINESVILLE, Pop. 7,272.(Train 3 passes, 11:06; No. 41, 3:40; No. 25, 2:46; No. 19, 7:27. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:05; No. 26, 9:16; No. 16, 12:18; No. 22, 3:43.) Painesville was founded in 1800 by settlers from Conn. and N.Y., the chief among whom was Gen. Edward Paine (1745-1841), an ex-officer of the Continental Army. It contains one of the early women's colleges of the country—Lake Erie College, founded in 1859 as the successor to Willoughby Seminary at Willoughby, Ohio, the buildings of which were burned in 1846. The history of this part of the State includes early episodes of Mormonism. In Painesville was published a book by E.D. Howe purporting to show that "the historical p(art?) of the book of Mormon" was plagiarized from a romance called The Manuscript Found written by Solomon Spalding of Conneaut (about 1809). This claim has not been fully verified by later research. Nine miles southwest of Painesville at Kirtland was (one?) of the early settlements made by Joseph Smith and his Rigdon (1793-1876) began his preaching career as a Baptist, then helped in establishing a society called the "reformers," and before being converted to Mormonism was pastor of a church in Mentor. He became a Mormon leader, and published a new translation of the Bible, with inserted prophecies of the coming of Joseph Smith. With Hyrum and Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, he moved westward in 1831 preaching, being "persecuted" and establishing an occasional temple. At Far West, a town in Missouri where the Mormons established themselves in 1838, Rigdon preached his "salt sermon," from the Matt. V. 13, urging his hearer to wage a "war of extermination" against all who disturbed them. Following his advice, the Mormons involved themselves in such broils with the "gentiles" that the state militia was called out against them. Smith and Rigdon were arrested, but the former escaped custody and with 15,000 followers, fled to Illinois. When the latter was freed, he joined the "Saints" in the city of Nauvoo which they had founded and was made a professor at their university. After Smith's arrest and murder by a mob in 1849 and the breaking up of Nauvoo, Rigdon disputed with Young for Smith's place. Not only failing to secure it, but being in addition tried for treason in wanting it, the disciple of Mormon returned to the East and spent his last days at Friendship, N.Y. Howe, in the book mentioned above, asserted that Sidney Rigdon was the original "author and proprietor of the Mormon conspiracy." Near Mentor, also is Lawnfield, the former home of James A. Garfield. James Abram Garfield (1831-1881), 20th president of the U.S., was born in a log cabin at Orange, Ohio, and began life as a farm hand. He attended for a time the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, afterwards Hiram College, finally entering Williams College from which he graduated, becoming a teacher of ancient languages and literature. Entering politics as a Republican, he was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1859. His Civil War record was striking, and he was made major-general for gallantry at the battle of Chickamauga. He was elected to Congress in 1863, where he attracted attention as a hard worker and ready speaker, and where later he became leader of the Republican party in the House. He was an advocate of drastic measures against the South and considered Lincoln's policies too lenient. At the presidential convention of the Republican Party in 1880, he was nominated on the 36th ballot as a compromise candidate, and in the same year was elected president. On the 2d of July, 1881, while on his way to attend commencement exercises at Williams College, he was shot by Charles G. Giteau, a disappointed office seeker who waylaid him in the Washington Railroad Station. He died Sept. 19, 1881, at Elberon, N.J. |
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