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Title: The New Wonder of the World: Buffalo, the Electric City
Author: Richmond, A. E.
Language: English
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THE NEW WONDER OF THE WORLD: BUFFALO, THE ELECTRIC CITY
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_WITH COMPLIMENTS OF_
THE SECURITY INVESTMENT COMPANY
OF BUFFALO, N. Y.
156 AND 158 PEARL STREET, CORNER CHURCH STREET.
--------------
_CAPITAL,_ _$300,000._
--------------
DIRECTORS:
CHARLES A. SWEET, President Third National
Bank, Buffalo.
JOHN SATTERFIELD, President Union Oil
Company, Buffalo.
EDMUND HAYES, Of the Union Bridge
Works, Buffalo.
HON. CHARLES Ex-Judge Supreme Court,
DANIELS, Buffalo.
JAMES H. SMITH, Director of the Cary Safe
Company, Buffalo.
WALTER G. ROBBINS, Vice-President Buffalo
Fish Company, Buffalo.
JAMES R. AUSTIN, Real Estate, Buffalo.
JAMES B. STAFFORD, Real Estate, Buffalo.
RICHARD H. STAFFORD, Real Estate, Buffalo.
FRANCIS B. THURBER, President Thurber-Whyland
Company, wholesale
grocers, New York City.
JAMES E. GRANNISS, President The Tradesmen’s
National Bank, New York
City.
JOHN LOUDON, Capitalist, Altoona, Pa.
J. M. GUFFEY, Capitalist, Pittsburg,
Pa.
This Company furnishes the investor a safe and reliable channel through
which he may place his money. Great care and judgment used before
putting an investment on the market. Large and small investors will find
it greatly to their advantage to examine the list of investments offered
by this Company.
Choice real estate a specialty.
Bonds and mortgages and other first-class securities handled.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
THE NIAGARA CATARACT--SOURCE OF BUFFALO’S ELECTRIC POWER.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE NEW WONDER OF THE WORLD.
BUFFALO: THE ELECTRIC CITY.
by
A. E. RICHMOND.
[Illustration]
The Matthews-Northrup Co., Complete Art-Printing Works,
Buffalo, N. Y.
14298
Copyright, 1892
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NIAGARA’S voice sings a new song.
Through countless ages it has thundered forth its wild, tumultuous
melody, a pæan to nature in every tone.
Now it sings an anthem to industry, to science, to inventive genius, to
commercial prosperity.
The magic wand of the electrician has been waved, and the mighty voice
swells and roars to new music of new and marvelous power.
The new song rising from the mist and the spray of the cataract heralds
a new era in Buffalo.
It heralds the evolution of the Queen City of the Lakes into the
Electric City of the World; a smokeless, dustless, wholesome city where
the myriad and ever-increasing wheels of industry will turn with the
silent, unseen power generated from Niagara’s unceasing current; a city
that will grow and attract and gather force and wealth and people until
it comes to be known as _the New Wonder of the World_.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
When the city of Buffalo, under the favoring conditions which have
brought it to its present splendid eminence, doubles its population in
ten years, and increases in wealth seven million dollars yearly, what
can be foretold of it when in addition to all its present
wealth-producing resources it becomes the possessor of an unlimited
supply of the cheapest power in the whole world!
Contemplating this fact, the Chicago _Tribune_ said: “By virtue of
having the cheapest power for turning its machinery, Buffalo will
inevitably become the manufacturing centre of the nation.”
The New York _Tribune_ adds this weighty testimony to the greatness of
our future: “The past of Buffalo is secure, and her manifest destiny is
evidently to be something tremendous.”
Already preparations are being made to bring to Buffalo the electric
power from the great tunnel at Niagara Falls. Several companies have
been formed of foremost business men, who see that in the distribution
and application of the mighty power to industrial uses there are
fortunes to be made, and that the pioneers in the task will win the
chief prizes.
The time for discussing the practicability of bringing electric power
from Niagara Falls to Buffalo has gone by. Electrical science has
settled the question completely. It has been demonstrated beyond all
question that electric power can be transmitted long distances without
material loss.
A number of the greatest capitalists, and shrewdest investors in the
United States, are financially interested in the tunnel scheme. Before
they put up their money they satisfied themselves not only that the
power could be produced, but that it could be sold.
They looked at Buffalo, 22 miles away, and saw a city of nearly 300,000
inhabitants, spread over a large territory, with ample opportunity for
territorial growth beyond the present limits, a city in which 3,000 new
houses were built in the year 1891, and in which nearly one hundred
million dollars is invested in industrial enterprises. They saw a city
into which 26 lines of railroad enter, representing a total trackage of
about 25,000 miles, and including the great trunk lines leading east,
west, north and south, tapping all the rich raw-material storehouses of
the continent at all points. They saw that Buffalo had extraordinary
facilities for the distribution of manufactures by rail, facilities
created by the hand of industry, and they saw too nature’s grand gift in
the great chain of lakes, coupled to another gift of industry, the Erie
canal, giving us a water route to the Atlantic seaboard.
These men saw that here was the place where electric power could be
disposed of in enormous quantities. They knew that they could send it
here almost as cheaply as they could distribute it in the immediate
vicinity of its point of production, and they saw the mighty certainties
in a combination of unlimited cheap power for manufacturing and
extraordinary shipping facilities. They knew that a market for their
electrical product was forever assured, and they planted their millions
in the earth and rock of Niagara. Better investment was never made.
Read the names of some of the great financiers engaged in this
enterprise: William K. Vanderbilt, Chauncey M. Depew, Drexel, Morgan &
Co., August Belmont, Brown Bros. & Co., Isaac N. Seligman, Winslow,
Lamer & Co., Morris K. Jessup and others famous in the financial world.
OUR GREAT RAILROAD INTERESTS.
Buffalo is one of the greatest railroad centers in the United States.
Its advantages for bringing in raw material cheaply and quickly are
unequalled. Its railroad arteries go forth in all directions, reaching
the rich mines and fertile fields and levying upon the wealth of all;
and for the distribution of manufactured products it occupies a
commanding position unexcelled by any city in the country. And to all
this must be added its peerless shipping facilities by lake and canal,
coupled with the fact of its unique location at the point of
transhipment between lake, canal and railroad.
The railroad interests of Buffalo are larger than many residents of the
city have any idea of. There are more miles of railroad tracks within
the city limits than in any other city in the world. We have 660 miles
of them. The railroads own over 3,600 acres of land in the city. Over
one-tenth of the general city taxes levied in Buffalo is paid by the
railroads. An army of over 20,000 men are steadily employed by the
railroads in Buffalo. A great number of them own their own homes. With
their families they are numerous enough to make a good-sized city of
themselves.
New industries are constantly being added to swell the bulk of railroad
enterprises here. The locomotive shops of the New York Central & Hudson
River Railroad are among the latest. They will cost half a million
dollars to build, and they will be equipped with the highest class of
machinery, costing several hundred thousand dollars more. It is the
intention within a few years to spend about two million dollars on these
shops, making them the largest and best equipped locomotive shops in the
United States, rivaling the Altoona shops, now the largest in the world.
The building of the Gould Car Coupler Company’s works adds another to
the long list of railroad supply shops located here, among which are the
Wagner Palace Car Works, Buffalo Car Wheel Works, New York Car Wheel
Works, Rood & Brown Car Wheel Works, all employing a large number of
men. These are the kind of industries that anchor a city to prosperity
forever.
All this shows what a railroad center Buffalo is and what splendid
facilities we have for receiving and sending by rail.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
THE LAKE AND ENTRANCE TO THE HARBOR.]
LAKE AND CANAL.
From statistics of lake commerce, compiled by Charles H. Keep, secretary
of the Lake Carriers’ Association, of Buffalo, it is learned that
30,299,006 tons of cargo were carried on the great lakes during the year
1890. Mr. Keep figures out that if all this tonnage were loaded into
railroad cars of fifteen tons capacity, there would be a string of cars
covering 13,466 miles of railroad tracks, or, in other words, four
strings of cars from New York to San Francisco and enough left over to
run two strings of cars from New York to Chicago. And most of this
immense amount of tonnage came to Buffalo, or was shipped from Buffalo.
“During the season of 1890,” he continues, “more than nine million tons
of ore were moved by the lake route from the vicinity of the mines to
the vicinity of the furnaces.”
To give further proof of the immense volume of trade flowing to and from
Buffalo, here are some comparative figures: During 1890 the amount of
tonnage passing through the Suez canal was 6,890,094 tons, compared with
8,454,435 tons passing through the St. Mary’s Falls canal, and
21,684,000 tons passing through the Detroit River.
In 1891, from April 1st to December 1st, the grain, including flour,
discharged from vessels at the port of Buffalo, reached the stupendous
amount of 164,459,720 bushels.
In 1891 the total value of imports to Buffalo by canal was $27,942,213,
and the total value of exports by canal the same year was $36,978,035.
To handle this great volume of business 1180 boats were in use.
GREAT GRAIN STOREHOUSES.
There are 34 grain elevators in Buffalo, with a total capacity of
15,000,000 bushels, in addition to six floaters and six transfer
elevators. These structures have a capacity for transferring 4,000,000
bushels every 24 hours. In 1891 they handled 135,315,510 bushels. Their
total value is over $8,000,000. Several new elevators of giant size are
planned. Two of them are estimated to cost a million dollars each.
WHERE TRADE CONCENTRATES.
Buffalo’s location is unique. It is the stopping off place between
distant sections for men, animals, lumber, grain and general
merchandise. The incidental business growing out of this fact is
enormous. Grain, coal, iron, oil, lumber and other products of this
great country gravitate toward Buffalo, and here they are sent to the
mills, refineries and factories, or are transferred from boats to cars,
or cars to boats, and sent east or west as the case may be.
The grain receipts by lake at this port have more than tripled in the
past ten years, reaching nearly 165,000,000 bushels in 1891. These
shipments are bound to vastly increase as new stretches of country in
the West and Northwest are opened up and tapped by railroad lines. The
recent passage of the river and harbor appropriation bill, by which an
expenditure of $4,000,000 is authorized in securing a twenty-foot
channel for lake navigation, will result in still lower rates and
greatly increased shipments by lake. The saving in lake freights over
the average railroad rates in 1891 was about $150,000,000.
Many of the largest coal trestles in the world are located here. This is
the greatest coal distributing point in the world. Our coal trade is
simply enormous. To give an indication of this, it is sufficient to
quote the coal shipments by lake alone from Buffalo in 1891. They
amounted to 2,365,895 tons, and the shipments by canal and rail were
very large. A conservative estimate places the value of property used in
the coal trade here at $10,000,000. This estimate, of course, does not
include vessels engaged in the coal trade, nor railroad property outside
of that actually devoted to the coal business.
The lumber trade here is phenomenally large. This, of course, is to be
expected, owing to our location at the foot of the great lakes. The rich
lumbering districts bordering upon the lakes are tributary to us, and
the consequence is that Buffalo and Tonawanda, which are practically
one, receive and distribute immense quantities of lumber. This is, in
fact, the greatest distributing point for lumber in the world.
In addition to all this, we have the largest sheep market in the world,
one of the largest horse markets in the world, and, next to Chicago, the
largest cattle market in the world.
THE WONDER OF THE WORLD.
The facts given above are all drawn from compiled statistics of the
city, and all show the splendid foundation that has been built for the
vast city of the near future when the electric elixir from Niagara’s
mighty power flows through all our commercial veins and arteries,
cheapening the cost of production so that outside competition can be
defied, building up every established enterprise, bringing numberless
new ones into life, and making of Buffalo the Manchester of the new
world! More than that, it will be the wonder of the world, the peerless,
marvelous electric city!
All this is coming. There is no chance about it. It is part of the great
onward movement of the world. It is human progress, but in this case it
is a tremendous stride, a lifetime of ordinary momentum at a bound.
Century after century the waters of the “unsalted seas” leaped over
Niagara’s precipice, full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing
beyond the grandeur of Nature in her wildest mood. Now, towards the
close of the nineteenth century, this marvel of force is chained to
man’s uses, and a power sufficient to run the machinery of the world is
levied upon for industrial purposes.
[Illustration:
WHERE THE GOLDEN GRAIN IS STORED--THE ELEVATOR DISTRICT.]
This tunnel project is a splendid illustration of human enterprise, of
which there has been an endless procession of illustrations. Think of a
few of the great things that have been accomplished. It became necessary
to cross oceans, and sailing vessels were built. The application of
steam came, and the ships folded their wings and flew faster than ever
they did before. The world demanded swift speed upon land, and railroads
were born, culminating in an Empire State Express that flies from New
York to Buffalo in a little over eight hours. Lightning leaped from the
clouds to copper wires and girdled the earth with instantaneous
intelligence, and our voices speed swifter than thought from city to
city.
The problems of the world are being solved one by one.
This is the electric age, and who can foretell what mighty things may
come in the train of the pioneer work with Niagara’s power! It is
proposed at present to produce 125,000 horse-power. The _Scientific
American_ estimates that the force in Niagara’s current amounts to
several millions of horse-power. The present tunnel can be duplicated
again and again as necessity demands. The sale of 15,000 horse-power
will carry the present investment, leaving 110,000 horse-power for clear
profit. The company has a capital of $10,000,000 to draw from, and a
number of the greatest capitalists in the country are behind the
movement. It is certain, then, that development will keep pace with the
demand, and that all the electric power needed will be forthcoming. We
have the great inexhaustible storehouse of Niagara to draw from forever,
and human enterprise can be depended upon to dig the gold that may be
had for the digging.
Buffalo, with her phenomenal facilities for tapping the mines, the
lumber forests, the grain fields and all the other rich storehouses of
the country, and with equal facilities for distributing the manufactured
product, will, of course, be the chief market for the electric power
produced at the Falls. It can be brought here without material loss in
transmission, while the transportation advantages conferred by Buffalo’s
unique location cannot be transmitted. They are immovable as the eternal
hills.
The result is not hard to trace. Buffalo is going to be the Electric
City of the world, instead of the Queen City of the lakes.
In the larger manufacturing concerns here the cost of steam power has
been brought down to about $35 per horse-power per year. The cost of
power in the smaller manufacturing concerns is much greater than this
sum.
It is estimated that the electric power from the Falls can be sold in
Buffalo, ready for instant use by touching a button, at little more than
half the present cost of steam power. Here is room for thought and
comparison on the part of those engaged in manufacturing enterprises.
Does not cheap power settle the question of a city’s manufacturing
greatness? Can there be any appeal from such settlement?
Give any city advantages in the way of cheap and abundant power not
enjoyed by any other city on the face of the earth and what is the
natural result? The eyes of manufacturers everywhere are focused upon
that city.
Give to a city unequaled transportation facilities and the cheapest
power in the world, and you have the conditions for building up the
greatest industrial center in the world.
This is Buffalo’s position.
Far-sighted men do not talk any more about the possibilities of
Buffalo’s future. They talk about certainties. They say with the New
York _Tribune_: “The past of Buffalo is secure, and her manifest destiny
is evidently to be something tremendous.”
Truly, as has been said by Samuel Wilkeson, Buffalo holds the key to the
commerce of an inland empire.
THE GROWTH OF A YEAR.
The Buffalo City Directory for 1892 shows about 6,000 more names than
were contained in last year’s directory. In order to compute the
population of a city, it is usual to multiply the number of names in the
directory by 3½, as, for the most part, only the names of heads of
families appear there. Some cities multiply by 4. It is certainly very
modest to make the multiplier 3¼, which is usually done in Buffalo. Upon
this basis it will be seen that the increase in our population during
the past year was 19,500, enough people gained in twelve months to make
a city as large as Lockport, N. Y., and nearly as large as Oswego, N. Y.
Counting 3¼ people to one name in the directory, we have a population,
in June, 1892, of 297,375.
The increase during the year has been no more than the usual steady
increase in the population of the city. With the addition of cheap
electric power as a cause for growth, there can be no question but that
the increase in future years will be much more rapid than in the past.
A GLOWING PROPHECY.
On February 19, 1888, before ever a drill had been started in the
Niagara tunnel, and before the project had attracted much attention, the
New York _Times_ uttered this glowing prophecy for Buffalo:
“Every furrow turned on Dakota’s plains, almost every blow
struck with keen-edged axes in the forests that stand on the
rugged Lake Superior region; the ceaseless hammering of
compressed-air drills in Lake Vermillion iron mines; the work of
thousands of Pennsylvania coal miners--in short, almost every
blow struck in primary productive industry in the region
tributary to the lakes adds to the prosperity of Buffalo....
This region has proved to be the most productive of freight of
all the lake regions, and the commerce of Lake Superior is still
in its infancy.... Buffalo will inevitably become the greatest
milling city on earth.”
[Illustration:
LAFAYETTE SQUARE AND SOLDIERS’ MONUMENT]
THE GREAT SCIENTIFIC PAPER’S VIEW OF IT.
The _Scientific American_, in its issue of March 5, 1892, contained an
extremely interesting article on the work and intentions of the Niagara
Falls Power Company. After speaking of the methods of construction,
etc., the article says:
“It is now the expectation of the company to make its first
large contract for the delivery of power at a distance from the
Falls, with the city of Buffalo, 3,000 horse-power being
required for the lighting of the city. The present cost of a
steam horse-power in Buffalo is put at $35 per year, and the
company offers to contract to furnish power on its grounds at
the Falls according to the following scale: For 5,000
horse-power, $10 per horse-power; for 4,500, $10.50; for 4,000,
$11; and so on down to 300 horse-power, for which there will be
charged $21 per horse-power per annum, each power to be supplied
for twenty-four hour days. It is evident, therefore, that if the
cost of transmission be within present expectations, the company
will be able to furnish power at Buffalo at a much lower price
than it is at present to be had at, and for a far larger field
of usefulness than the mere lighting of the city. According to
the most successful of all the recent efforts in the way of
practically transmitting power electrically for a considerable
distance, only about twenty-five per cent. of the power was lost
in transmitting it by wire a distance of 108 miles. This degree
of success was attained at the recent Frankfort exposition.”
WHAT ERASTUS WIMAN SAYS.
That well-known and successful financier, Erastus Wiman, of New York,
who is deeply interested in electrical enterprises, read a very able
paper at the convention of the National Electric Light Association held
in Buffalo in February, 1892. In his paper he devoted considerable
attention to the Niagara Falls tunnel scheme, and among other things he
said:
“How vast is the internal commerce that throbs and pulsates over
this fair land we may not now stop to estimate, and how
important a part this great city of Buffalo is destined to play
in it, electrically, we can only dimly guess. * * * The whole
electrical community are watching with intense interest the
possibility of the development in this city of Buffalo
electrical transmission arising out of the successful effort
which is now being made to harness the power hitherto latent in
the Niagara River. The boldness of the proposal, the extent and
character of the enterprise which is now nearing completion in
this effort, the pluck and push in the work, challenge alike the
attention of the engineering and the commercial world. The
relation of this enormous power of nature to the transmission of
electricity is the most important consideration which now
occupies the thoughts of those most interested. The success
which has attended the three-phase current from Lauffen to
Frankfort in the transmission of power 112 miles, without
material loss, comes just at the right moment to make it seem
possible that the enormous potentialities in the forces of
Niagara can be made to reach a degree of usefulness never dreamt
of in the past and hardly realized in the wonderful present. It
seems fortunate, therefore, that the convention which is here
assembled should, as it were, be in the presence of the most
stupendous event possible in the history of the science of
electricity. In the development of the next few years will be
found ample food for thought and effort, out of which may grow a
relief for electric lighting plants of the greatest possible
consequence. If in the city of Buffalo and from the Niagara
River there can be transmitted power in such enormous
proportions as are now contemplated, sub-divided and reduced, so
that into every factory and almost into every house the force
and energy can be controlled and operated, there is latent in
every central station the possibilities that may come to every
town in the country and to all electric light plants now lying
idle during the day, an imitation in modified form of the power
that of all forces in the world, Niagara is the best example.”
“THE MANUFACTURING CENTRE OF THE NATION.”
Within the past year or two, and particularly during 1892, Buffalo has
received a great deal of attention from the press in all parts of the
country. The leading newspapers of the large cities have discussed the
question of Buffalo’s future growth, and the general concensus of
opinion has been that it will be phenomenally large.
Among the newspapers that have entered into this discussion is the
Chicago _Tribune_. It stands in the front rank of the great journals of
the United States. It is very ably edited, is a sterling, conservative
newspaper, and its editorial utterances carry great weight. In its issue
of March 13, 1892, it printed a leading editorial about Buffalo, and it
is here produced in full:
“A recent article in the _Tribune_ setting forth the prospect
that this city will ere long be the centre of operations in the
United States for the largest electrical company in the world
has incited more than one good-humored protest that the people
here are expecting too much. The New York _Tribune_ and the
Buffalo _Express_ both call attention to the fact that Buffalo
has great expectations in this matter of being the electrical
centre of the world. With Niagara Falls behind it, and a
consequence of the fact, Buffalo is claimed to be looming up as
the chief manufacturing and shipping centre of the interior.
“In the course of a few months from now the practicability of
converting the Falls into a source of power, light, heat, and
refrigeration is to be demonstrated. A company is now
constructing tunnels and setting a series of turbine wheels in
position from which it is expected to obtain 120,000 horse-power
without the combustion of a single pound of fuel. If it succeeds
in this, every wheel in Buffalo can be turned and every building
lighted and heated at the lowest possible cost. With this
enormous electrical power transmitted to the city and
distributed through it coal will no longer be burned there, and
the steam engine will be dispensed with in manufacturing
processes. By virtue of having the cheapest power for turning
its machinery Buffalo will inevitably become the manufacturing
centre of the nation. This is the forecast made by practical
electricians and endorsed by shrewd business men as a sound
deduction, warranted, too, by a glance at the remarkable
progress achieved by the city during the last decade.
“In that period the city at the foot of Lake Erie increased its
coal traffic 387 per cent., its iron receipts 226 per cent., its
population by 89 per cent., and fully doubled its grain receipts
and lumber shipments. It is already the largest grain-receiving
and coal-distributing center in the world, the principal lumber
port in the country, and one of the greatest markets for live
stock and fish. Its number of manufacturing establishments
increased 200 per cent. from 1880 to 1890, and it is now
considered certain that they will more than treble again by the
end of the century with the conversion of the Falls into a
source of electrical power, while the population will increase
from 300,000 to 1,000,000. And it is said ‘Buffalo now seems
destined to gain steadily upon Chicago in the race for
commercial supremacy.’
[Illustration:
BUFFALO AND ITS ELECTRIC POWER HOUSE.]
“That is a noble ambition, and the _Tribune_ sees no reason to
find fault with it. But it should not be forgotten that Chicago
will also grow, so that Buffalo may still be a long way behind
when her promise of a million inhabitants will have been
realized. Yet it may be said that the prospects of growth are
set forth only in a mild way by either of the papers named. If
the transference of electrical power be performed as cheaply and
efficiently as is now expected the result may be a speedy
removal thither of much of the manufacturing industry of New
England, a large share of the ‘Yankee notion’ business that now
flourishes in those Eastern States, and no little of the
manufacturing energy that at present exhibits itself in the
smaller cities of New York and New Jersey. Possibly the silk
industry of the latter will be found seeking the propinquity of
the Falls. Troy and Rochester, particularly the latter, are
likely to be injuriously affected, unless it be found that the
power can be transmitted to them with but little loss, and
Cleveland may be a great loser, while even the woolen mills of
Philadelphia may be unable to compete with those of the new
center. In short, the possibilities for paper mills, flour
mills, cotton and woolen manufactories, and a host of other
hives of industry clustering there is limited only by the
quantity of power available from the descending waters, and this
great prosperity will not bring with it the smudge of
coal-burning, which has defiled the buildings and polluted the
atmosphere of other cities that have attempted greatness by
changing to more useful forms the raw products of nature. But it
is hard to see how any or all of this can materially hurt
Chicago, and the people of this city can well afford to wish
those of Buffalo success in their new departure.”
“ANOTHER MANCHESTER.”
In a very able leading editorial, printed in the New York _Tribune_ of
February 7, 1892, the future of Buffalo was glowingly mirrored. Such
utterances from such a source speak volumes, and show the commanding
position to which Buffalo has risen--a position that attracts the
attention of the newspapers of national eminence as well as of the
greatest capitalists of the country. The article referred to is herewith
printed entire:
“Chicago has been so intent upon rivaling New York in population
and commercial importance that it has overlooked the chances of
competition from another city in the Empire State. Buffalo, with
Niagara Falls behind it, is looming up as the chief
manufacturing and shipping center of the interior. In the course
of a few months the practicability of converting the Falls into
a source of power, light, heat and refrigeration is to be
demonstrated. If the company which is now constructing tunnels
and setting a series of turbine-wheels, succeeds in obtaining
120,000 horse-power, every wheel in Buffalo can be turned and
every house lighted and heated at the lowest cost. With this
enormous electrical power transmitted and distributed throughout
the city, coal will no longer be burned and steam engines will
be dispensed with in manufacturing processes. Buffalo, by virtue
of having the cheapest power for turning its wheels, will
inevitably become the manufacturing center of the nation. This
is the forecast made, not only by sanguine electricians, but
also by shrewd, practical business men, who have watched the
remarkable progress of the city during the last decade.
“Even without the successful operation of the tunnel plant at
Niagara, Buffalo since 1880 has increased its population 89 per
cent., its grain receipts 101 per cent., its lumber shipments
125 per cent., its iron receipts 226 per cent., and its coal
business 367 per cent. The commerce of the great lakes has
involved exchanges of wheat and coal. All the coal-carrying
corporations have made Buffalo their shipping point for the West
because the grain-laden fleet is available for return cargoes.
The city is not only the largest grain-receiving and
coal-distributing center in the world, but it is also the
principal lumber port of the country and one of the greatest
live-stock and fish markets. With coal, iron, lumber and salt
available for the founding of new industries, it has increased
its number of manufacturing industries over 200 per cent. during
the last decade. These are substantial results which warrant the
conclusion that the success of the project for converting
Niagara Falls into a source of electric power will raise the
population of Buffalo from 300,000 to 1,000,000 in another
decade. The manufacturing interests of the country will
inevitably center where electric power costing a fraction of
either water or steam power can be supplied together with all
raw materials. With the help of Niagara, Buffalo now seems
destined to gain steadily upon Chicago in the race for
commercial supremacy.
“It has been fortunate for Buffalo that prosperity has not
overwhelmed it suddenly, and that it has had leisure for
preparing for its good fortune. Already it is the handsomest
residence city in America, with broad, heavily-shaded streets
paved with asphalt, with a well-designed series of beautiful
parks, and with public buildings, hotels, libraries and music
halls worthy of a great town. If its wealthy class live in
luxurious palaces incomparably finer than the residences of
Eastern millionaires, its poor and humble artisans are housed in
neat and tasteful cottages. It is a charming city of homes and
domestic comfort, which is gradually being transformed into one
of the busiest hives of American manufacturing industry. It is
at least a pleasant thought that through the transmission of
power now going to waste at Niagara this well-kept and wholesome
town may escape the smudge of coal-burning which has fouled
Chicago and impaired the freshness and beauty of Cleveland. If
by the end of another decade every wheel in it from the trolleys
on the electric railways to the largest iron lathe in its
engineering works be turned by power generated by the turbines
at Niagara, it will be another Manchester, but without smoke and
grime.”
AMERICA’S HANDSOMEST CITY.
The latter portion of the _Tribune_ article draws attention to some very
noteworthy facts connected with Buffalo. When the _Tribune_ says that
Buffalo is “the handsomest residence city in America,” it tells the
exact truth. All Buffalonians are deservedly proud of the beauties of
their city. Many times has the writer heard exclamations of surprise and
delight from the lips of strangers who, for the first time, were being
driven through our beautiful avenues and park roads. Our streets are
exceptionally wide and well-paved. Care in tree-planting has led to
magnificent results. Well-kept, velvety lawns of spacious extent are the
rule, and make fine setting for the thousands of architectural gems of
homes with which the city is studded. It has been said over and over
again by traveled strangers that Buffalo has more fine architecture in
residences, more beautiful homes than any other city of its size in the
world.
We had, at the close of the summer of 1891, about 105 lineal miles of
asphalted streets. It is hard as a rock and smooth as a floor and full
of restful delight to those who drive over its smooth, clean surface.
Personal pride taken by the property-owners in its trim beauty leads to
its being swept and cleaned daily, which is done at trifling expense.
Asphalt is being laid in this city at the rate of about twenty lineal
miles per year, and we have now more miles of asphalted streets than any
other city in the world.
[Illustration:
VIEW OF AN ASPHALTED RESIDENCE STREET.]
The park system of Buffalo contains about 900 acres of handsome land,
which has been laid out by Frederick L. Olmsted, the eminent landscape
artist, and its natural beauty wonderfully added to. It lies close to
the finer residence portion of the city, and is readily reached from all
sections. Land for new parks on the south side of the city and along the
lake has recently been bought, making splendid additions to the park
system.
The school system of Buffalo ranks deservedly high. We have over fifty
grammar schools, one high school, another large school building used for
the overflow and a new high school projected. We have a State Normal
School, Kindergartens, dozens of parochial and private schools, and we
have taken steps to establish manual training schools.
We have medical colleges of high standing, business colleges of national
reputation, some splendid public libraries, several of the finest
theaters in the country, and handsome churches without number. No city
has more right than has Buffalo to be called the city of churches. We
have about 150 of them.
The social atmosphere of Buffalo is delightful, and visitors to this
city always carry away with them very pleasant memories of our social
life.
In short, there is in Buffalo every refinement of civilization of the
highest type. The busy man of affairs who seeks, at the same time,
investment for his capital and charming social advantages for his
family, can find in Buffalo all that he desires.
A CITY OF HOMES.
And there is still another phase of this subject that should be touched
upon. Buffalo is a city of homes for the humble as well as the rich. It
is a city full of the sweet content that belongs to the home-builder.
Building and loan associations, of which we have a great number, have
materially helped to bring about this result. But it is a fact that
these associations thrive only in soil suited to them. They are the
outgrowth of sterling worth, sobriety and manly ambition. Where they
thrive we find good workmen of conservative instincts, who are averse to
taking part in labor troubles. This is believed to be the chief reason
why Buffalo has always enjoyed a singular freedom from strikes. Be the
cause what it may, it is a fact that strikes are of a rare occurrence
here; and when they have occurred they have been quickly settled. The
firebrands of labor agitations have had very little encouragement here.
It is the more easy for workmen to own their own homes in Buffalo from
the fact that land values here are remarkably low. We stretch over a
large section of territory and have plenty of room for our people.
A first-class electric street car service gives easy and swift access to
the suburbs; while the New York Central Railroad runs trains every hour
each way on a Belt Line encircling the city and tapping residence
portions all around the fifteen-mile circuit.
Nowhere is there a more conservative, prosperous and contented community
of workingmen than in Buffalo, and this is a fact that builds up a
bulwark of safety for industrial enterprises and investment of capital.
[Illustration:
FAR-FAMED DELAWARE AVENUE.]
OUR ELECTRIC RAILROAD SYSTEM.
Rapid transit is one of the essentials in the busy life of a great city.
Buffalo has outgrown the horse car system and has now swift electric
cars speeding in all directions. All the great arteries of travel
leading from the heart of the city are equipped with electric cars. The
work of putting in the electric system has been one of great magnitude,
as there was no cessation in the traffic while the change was being
made.
Though electric cars have been in operation in some of the park roads
for several years, the work of changing the system in down town streets
was not started until the fall of 1890. Work was then begun on Niagara
Street, and on July 4, 1891, the first electric cars were run in that
important thoroughfare. Within four months traffic on the line was
tripled, and it has steadily increased ever since. Elk, Seneca,
Washington and Sycamore streets, all thoroughfares leading to the
suburbs, were next equipped with electric cars, and at this writing
(June, 1892) the work of changing the system in Main Street is
progressing rapidly, and is almost completed. The system is, of course,
being changed in the most important thoroughfares first, and the less
important lines will undergo the same treatment in rapid succession, so
that it will not be very long before horse cars will be remembered in
Buffalo as the vanished symbol of a slower era. The total length of the
street railroad tracks of Buffalo is over 100 miles.
Through the chief thoroughfares the electric cars run every three
minutes. A single fare of five cents is charged from one end of the city
to the other, with the privilege of changing from one line to another.
There are no transfer charges. The company pays to the city a percentage
on its earnings of two to three per cent., graded in proportion to the
amount of the gross receipts. This arrangement, which was entered into
during the early part of 1892, was a very welcome one to the people,
particularly to workingmen, who consequently are enabled to reach their
work in any part of the city, even the most distant, for a five cent
fare. The swiftness of the electric cars, from eight to eighteen miles
an hour, is a great factor in time-saving, and it is much appreciated by
working people, as well as by business men, and all who are impatient of
delay in getting from one part of the city to another.
The Buffalo Railway Company, which operates all the lines of street
railroad in the city, has a capital of six million dollars, so that it
is financially strong and able to carry out any improvement desired.
Cheap electric power from Niagara will, of course, be available in the
running of street cars in Buffalo; and as it can be bought very much
cheaper than it can be produced by the evaporation of steam it will have
a potent influence in making it possible for the company to grant still
further concessions to the public. The citizens’ committee which
recently arbitrated between the company and the public and brought about
the present satisfactory agreement had full and free access to all the
books of the company, and figured out to a nicety the cost of carrying
each passenger, and the amount of profit in the business. If the cost of
the motive power had been cut in two, as it will be cut by the
introduction of Niagara’s power, the committee would certainly have
reported in favor of even better terms for the city. Thus it is a fair
conclusion that the beneficent effects of cheap power generated at the
Falls will be felt by every person who rides on the street cars of
Buffalo.
This subject is here dwelt upon at considerable length because the
writer feels that it is of great importance. Every manufacturer whose
eyes are turned in this direction, and who is considering whether he
shall take advantage of the peerless opportunities now offered in
Buffalo, wants to know about the street car service. He wants to know,
in case he should locate his plant here, how quickly and how cheaply he
and his employees could get to and from their business. It is a pleasure
to assure him and all others interested that the electric street
railroad system of Buffalo is pronounced by experts to be the best in
the United States, and also that its management is of the most liberal
and progressive kind.
The street car service of a city is part of its throbbing life, part of
its pulse, and by it the business health and prosperity of the city can
be gauged.
SUBURBAN ELECTRIC ROADS.
Within a radius of a few miles from Buffalo there are many thriving
towns. Naturally, with so many steam railroads running in all directions
from this point, residents of these towns enjoy excellent railroad
accommodations in traveling to and from the city. But the swift pace of
present progress is all too rapid for the old way. Electric lines to
suburban towns are being built or projected in surprising number. An
electric line to the city of Tonawanda, connecting with the Buffalo
street railroad system, and in fact being an extension of it, has been
in successful operation since early in the present year (1892). It will
be extended through to Niagara Falls. Two other lines of electric
railroad to Tonawanda have been surveyed and active preparations are
being made to build them. Both will connect with the Buffalo system, and
in time will be extended to Niagara Falls. One of these has secured a
very favorable route, out Delaware Avenue in a direct air line to
Tonawanda, through a delightful residence district.
An electric railroad is being built to Lancaster and Depew, the latter
being the new city of the New York Central Railroad just outside of
Buffalo, where the Central’s locomotive shops, the Gould Car Coupler
Works and other great industrial enterprises are in progress. This line
will be in operation by September of this year.
Still another electric line is to be built to East Aurora, the prettiest
of Erie County villages, where the famous Hamlin and Jewett stock farms
are located. C. J. Hamlin, the millionaire horseman, and owner of Belle
Hamlin, is one of the prominent men interested in this line.
Strong companies have also been formed to build electric lines to
Hamburg, Williamsville and other suburban towns.
All of these enterprises indicate the profound belief which capitalists
have in Buffalo’s future. Most of them were brought into life through
the stimulating influence of cheap electric power from Niagara Falls.
Those interested in these enterprises knew that cheap electric power
meant tremendous and rapid growth for the city, and that the tide of
prosperity would sweep out far enough to reach all towns lying
contiguous to the city, and whose prosperity is part of the prosperity
of Buffalo. They also knew that cheap electric power from Niagara Falls
meant cheap motive power for their roads and greatly reduced cost of
operation.
It is a modest assertion that the silent, swift, all-powerful currents
of electricity flowing into Buffalo from Niagara will touch every craft,
every branch of industry. It will quicken all these into renewed
activity and point a thousand new ways for the employment of money,
brains and muscle. It will give us light, heat and refrigeration, and
power for the mightiest and most delicate machinery.
The smoke cloud of industry that hovers over and shrouds the
manufacturing district of every great city, will gradually lift from
ours as the consumption of coal gives place to smokeless electric power.
In a few years it will be all gone, and Buffalo, the “Electric City,”
will be famed as the cleanest and healthiest city in the world.
“BUFFALO’S GOLD MINE.”
Some years ago, Mr. James B. Stafford, of this city, then president of
the Buffalo Business Men’s Association, conceived the idea of offering a
prize of $100,000 for the best plan of utilizing the current of Niagara
River. He and over one hundred others subscribed $1,000 each to a fund
for the purpose, and the attention of scientific men in all parts of the
civilized world was directed to the problem. This problem has been
solved in the development of the tunnel project.
Mr. Stafford is a keen, shrewd, level-headed business man, and has made
a large fortune by judicious investments in Buffalo real estate. He
believes that Buffalo will have a million population within ten years,
as a result of an industrial revolution in this city that will amaze the
world, the chief and controlling reason for which will be the
introduction of cheap electric power.
[Illustration:
THE BUFFALO LIBRARY.]
In the Buffalo _Commercial_ of December 22, 1891, the following
interview with Mr. Stafford was printed, under the heading “Buffalo’s
Gold Mine:”
“If the richest gold mine in the whole world were discovered in
a suburb of Buffalo, what effect do you suppose it would have on
our people?” asked Mr. James B. Stafford of a _Commercial_
reporter.
“There would be tremendous excitement, of course,” was the
reply.
“There would,” returned Mr. Stafford; “but do you know that the
richest gold mine in the world would be a mere bagatelle
compared with the wealth that will spring from the Niagara Falls
tunnel? Do our people stop to think what it means? It means
prosperity for Buffalo beyond the wildest present expectation. I
believe I speak entirely within bounds when I say that it will
make Buffalo the second greatest city in the whole United
States, and that you and I won’t be very old when our city
reaches that place. Looking into the immediate future, I will
prophesy that we will have a million population within ten
years.
“Just look about you and see what electricity has already
done for the world, and yet we are scarcely entered up in
the Electric Age. We are at the dawn of a new era, and
electricity, now in its infancy, will grow and develop until
it revolutionizes the world. It will give us power, light,
heat, refrigeration. It will do everything for us that steam
now does, and here in Buffalo it is going to cost less than
water power.”
“What does it cost manufacturers for power now?”
“The water power of the country now in use costs from $16.67 per
horse-power per year at Lockport to $56.25 at Manayunk, Pa.,
while steam costs all the way from $35 to $175 per horse-power
per annum.
“When we consider that the entire power going to waste at the
Falls is one-seventh of the entire power of the world one can
comprehend what an inexhaustible mine of wealth we are on the
eve of developing. Already the problem of transmitting
electricity long distances without much waste has been solved.
Other companies are in the field, and before many years instead
of 125,000 horse-power there will probably be a million. Buffalo
being the nearest large city to the great cataract, it will be
the first to receive the benefits.
“Just let your mind run forward a dozen years. Electricity
running through cables from the Falls will act on our city like
the warm blood running through a human body, will permeate every
part of the city, running 2,000 horse-power engines as easily as
the dentist’s drill or the family sewing machine. Every wheel in
Buffalo will be eventually turned by electricity. It will light
and heat our houses. It will be cheaper than anything else. The
impetus that it will give our manufacturing enterprises will be
incalculable.
“Add to all this our great natural advantages and no wonder our
expectations should be great. We are midway between the great
producing regions of the West and the more thickly populated
sections of the East, with its continually increasing export
trade. What better point could be found for the manufacturing
centre of the country? Here all the shipping from the western
chain of lakes discharges its cargoes of grain, lumber, ore,
etc., reloading with up-cargoes of coal (and all the great
coal-carrying transportation corporations have branches that now
terminate in this city), laying at the door of the manufacturer
the raw material at the lowest possible freight rate, with
twenty-six lines of railroads leading from here in every
direction (many of them trunk lines), with a canal and waterway
to the seaboard giving the manufacturer the finest shipping
facilities possible.
“Buffalo already boasts of the largest coal distributing point
in the world, the largest sheep and fresh fish market in the
world; one of the largest horse markets; the largest grain
distributing point in the world; the second largest cattle
market in the world; we are destined to be the largest flour
milling city in the world, and with our suburban port of
Tonawanda we have the largest lumber market in the world.
“In the last ten years we have increased our population 89 per
cent., and with this new and wonderful factor that no other city
in the world’s history has ever had, it is not a wild statement
to make, but one that the present outlook would warrant, that
Buffalo and not Chicago will be the second American city.”
ELECTRIC POWER ON THE CANADIAN SIDE.
Col. Albert D. Shaw, formerly U. S. Consul at Montreal, Canada, and
later at Manchester, England, is at the head of a company which proposes
to produce electricity on the Canadian side of the Niagara River. This
company has secured the passage of a bill through the Ontario Parliament
permitting the incorporation of a company with a capitalization of
$3,000,000, and a privilege of bonding to the extent of $5,000,000, with
the object of producing electricity by means of a tunnel upon the
Canadian side.
In conversation with a writer for the Philadelphia _Press_, in April of
this year, Col. Shaw said the Canadian company had not been organized to
compete with the American company, but rather to supplement and act in
concert with it. He explained that as the land on the Canadian side is
devoted to park purposes, it cannot be used for the location of
manufactories, and therefore the power produced must be transmitted to
other points. In this connection he went on to say:
“Such power can certainly be carried to Buffalo. An electrical
plant has been established about 16 miles from the city of Rome,
N. Y., and the power there furnished is conveyed to Rome with
perfectly satisfactory results. Buffalo is only a little more
than 20 miles from Niagara, and with the higher voltage which
can be obtained there is no doubt that city can be furnished
with electric power sufficient to run all the manufactories of
New York State were they located there. After our company is
organized in harmony with the New York company we shall begin
work, and I think can complete it within a year.”
“The water power furnished by the Niagara River above the
Falls,” continued Col. Shaw, “is estimated to be equivalent to
3,000,000 horse-power. When we recollect that the Connecticut
River at Holyoke only furnishes about 24,000 horse-power, and
the river at Minneapolis only 18,000, some idea can be obtained
of this enormous power which has hitherto been going to waste.
The American company has built a tunnel 8,000 feet long. The
entrance to it is a long distance above the Falls, and the exit
where the waste water flows into the Niagara River is just below
the suspension bridge. This tunnel is capable of furnishing
power equivalent to 140,000 horse-power, an amount of power
which vastly exceeds anything furnished anywhere else in the
world. The Niagara River never runs dry. There never is an
appreciable diminution in its body of water. Everywhere else
where water power is used manufactories are compelled either to
have a steam plant which can be relied upon in dry weather, or
else to run the risk of shutting down for lack of power. That
can never happen on the banks of the Niagara.”
Col. Shaw went on to speak of the plans of the American company, with
which he is familiar. After stating that manufacturers from all parts of
the country have been in communication with the American company with a
view of locating plants in the city of Buffalo, and that expert
engineers estimate that the electric power which can be developed and
furnished will be practically illimitable, he said:
“The Canadian company will be able to furnish tremendous voltage
whenever wires properly insulated are ready to receive it. The
New York capitalists who virtually own the American company, and
will be in harmony with the Canadian, are even more enthusiastic
than they are in Buffalo. I have talked with a number of them
since I have been in the city. They are careful men, not likely
to be carried away with false enthusiasm, and who look at such
things purely from a commercial point of view. They are of
opinion, as I am, and as everybody else is who has made a study
of this matter, that the great manufacturing city of the future
is to be located upon the bank of the Niagara River, and the
time is not far distant when the city of Buffalo will extend
from its present site full twenty miles to the north. The number
of manufactories which have already decided to move from various
other towns, some of them in the far West, to Buffalo, is an
indication of what the future will be.
“The power is permanent and is dependent upon no changes of
the weather. Moreover, it is cheap power, and will always be
sufficient, no matter how greatly any manufacturer may desire
to increase his plant. Furthermore, the contiguity of this
place to convenient transportation is another temptation to
manufacturers. For instance, it has been demonstrated that the
grain of the West can be brought there and manufactured into
flour at least 10 cents a barrel cheaper than in the great
milling cities of the West, and that of itself is a handsome
profit.
“Furthermore, transportation charges, such is the relation of
Buffalo and its vicinity to water and rail routes, will be
cheaper there than at any other manufacturing center in the
United States. The raw material can be brought either by the
lakes or by rail to the doors of the mill, and the finished
product can be sent out by lake, by the Canadian Canal to the
St. Lawrence River, by the Erie Canal during the season when
water transportation is open, and there are 26 different lines
of railway centering there. The manufacturers have been figuring
pretty closely. Competition is so great that it is frequently
the economies which represent the difference between success and
failure, profit and loss. All those of them who have already
decided to locate in that vicinity and utilize this great power
are of opinion that the saving in expenses will of itself
represent a fair profit on the capital invested. Within 20 years
it would not be surprising to see a city, or a link of cities
practically one, containing 1,000,000 people, and perhaps the
largest capital investment in manufacturing in the United
States, with perhaps one or two exceptions.
“It is strange that this magnificent power which has been wasted
heretofore should not have had earlier development. Several
attempts have been made to develop it, but capital has been
timid until some of the great financial geniuses of New York
City became interested.”
ELECTRICITY IN THE HOUSEHOLD.
It is certain that electricity will be so cheap and plentiful in Buffalo
that it will come into general use in the homes of our people. It will
be cheaper than gas for light, and coal for heat. It will run the family
sewing machine. The electric motor will become a part of every
well-ordered household.
The _Scientific American_, speaking of the new uses of electricity
coming in the train of its cheap production, says:
“Domestic life will be attended with many comforts and
conveniences. The cook will only need to touch a button, and
presto, her electrical stove will be in full operation, the pot
will boil, the oven bake, the turkey roast, the pump move, the
washing machine turn; while the electric refrigerator will
freeze the water, preserve the meats, vegetables, milk, butter,
eggs, and other supplies. No coal, no wood, no dust, no dirt, no
oil, no gas. The lady of the house will be relieved of care. She
presses a button, and every nook and corner of her dwelling
glows with cheerful light. Touch another and the electric fire
glimmers in every room, diffusing genial warmth. The electric
lift takes her up or down stairs. The telephone conveys her
orders to market, and distributes her social commands among
friends and neighbors.”
[Illustration:
NATURE AT HER LOVELIEST — THE PARK LAKE.]
ELECTRICITY’S MANIFOLD USES.
In the same article occurs a concise statement of the varied uses to
which the incoming low-priced power will be applied in Buffalo. It is as
follows:
“Near to Niagara, only twenty-two miles distant, is Buffalo,
already a large and prosperous city, the head centre of lake
navigation. The simple extension of conductors over the short
distance above mentioned will bring to the people of Buffalo
direct share in the economic and other advantages of the new and
great enterprise. Light, heat and motive power for streets,
vehicles, works, shops, factories, stores, churches, dwellings,
can be supplied from the dynamos at Niagara more economically,
probably, than by any other means. Local steam engines may be
dismissed; their occupation, for Buffalo, will be gone. Even the
steam fire engines may retire. The electric pump will beat them
out of sight.”
PLENTY OF BANKING CAPITAL.
Buffalo is blessed with splendid banking facilities. There are now
nineteen banks of deposit in the city with a total capital of nearly
five million dollars and a reserve of nearly eleven millions. Five new
banks have been started here since the spring of 1891. Our bankers are
cautious, conservative business men, and banking business in this city
has always been conducted on conservative lines. The solid financiers
who control these great barometers of our business life have never
invited disaster by loose, speculative methods. Like the arch in the
foundation wall of a massive structure, gaining strength from increased
weight, has been the prudence of our bankers, and to-day our banking
institutions rest upon secure foundation and are ready for the branching
out and growth that will come to them with the rapid increase in
industrial enterprises resulting from the world’s cheapest power.
Prudence has been the watchword of success in the past, and it will
continue as the governor in the greater transactions of the greater
future.
OUR LOW TAX RATE.
Some facts about Buffalo’s tax rate are fitting at this time. In a
carefully written article from the pen of the Hon. Charles F. Bishop,
Mayor of Buffalo, and printed in the Sunday _Express_ of April 3, 1892,
the following facts are given:
“Property in Buffalo is assessed at much less than its real
value, and its tax rate has for many years, for all purposes
(State, County and City) except local improvements, averaged
about two dollars per hundred on the assessment. At first
thought this may seem high, but a careful examination of the
reports of other cities shows that the rate elsewhere is
generally much higher. In New York it is $1.95; in Chicago
$5.00; in Brooklyn $2.57; in Cleveland it is $2.79; in
Cincinnati $2.85. And this reasonable rate of taxation is not
obtained by rapid increase of our bonded indebtedness except for
acquiring valuable property for permanent use, or the extension
of great public improvements.
“Indeed, so careful has the increase of indebtedness been
guarded that now with an indebtedness of $11,464,531 the city is
the owner of real estate valued, in 1890, at $7,804,267 and
personal property valued at $6,828,765. Surely this statement
shows a due regard for the tax-payers’ interests; and coupled
with the fact that Buffalo maintains school facilities as good
as those of any city, police and fire departments that for
efficiency are unsurpassed, and furnishes a water supply that
for purity and cheapness is unequaled, it presents a very
well-grounded claim for municipal economy.
“The total of assessments annually shows a gratifying increase
of wealth, and of necessity the expenses of the city must also
increase with greater population to serve and more extended
public improvements to maintain. I am sanguine, however, that in
a few years the increase in values will create a noticeable
decrease of tax rate.”
OUR CITY WATER.
Buffalo’s source of water supply is the same as the source of our
marvelous electric power. It is the Niagara. We get it pure and
undefiled, in unlimited quantity, and it is as cheap as it is pure and
plentiful. The service is under the control of the city government. Our
water rates are cheaper than those in any other large city in the
country, manufacturers are given very low special rates, and yet there
are several hundred thousand dollars available every year for further
extensions to keep pace with the rapid growth of the city, which is
constantly pushing out and developing in new sections. The pumping
engines and entire plant are first-class in every particular.
Niagara’s water, as is generally known, comes down from the great lakes,
and enters the river at the foot of Lake Erie, where Buffalo is located.
A mile down stream is an inlet pier through which the water supply for
the city is drawn by mammoth pumping engines. Analysis shows that there
is no organic matter in the water, and that it is absolutely pure. There
is an entire absence of any possibility of its being defiled before it
reaches Buffalo. All dredgings from the Buffalo harbor and river, canal
and slips must be and are, as provided by stringent law, dumped below
the inlet pier.
Thus it will be seen that this great requisite in the health and
prosperity of a city is assured in pure and unlimited supply forever.
NATURAL GAS FUEL.
A very large section of the residence portion of Buffalo is supplied
with natural gas fuel. It is brought in pipes from Pennsylvania, and
also from Canada, and is extensively used for fuel in this city. It is
sold to consumers for 25 cents per thousand feet net, and on an average
costs no more than coal. The freedom which it gives from the task of
handling coal and ashes, and the entire absence of dust and dirt in
connection with its use, are greatly appreciated in thousands of Buffalo
homes. The Canadian supply gives rich promise of abundant yield, and its
principal market is in Buffalo. The source of the Canadian supply is
only a few miles from Buffalo. The tremendous extent of the Pennsylvania
field is well known.
[Illustration:
WATERWORKS POWER HOUSE AND INLET PIER IN NIAGARA RIVER.]
ELECTRICITY SUPPLANTING STEAM.
As electric power has heretofore been produced, for the most part, by
the consumption of coal and evaporation of steam, it has had to compete
with steam on disadvantageous terms, as the steam lay one step nearer
the base of the power, namely, the fuel.
Coal produced steam; steam, in turn, produced electricity; and as
success in any line of manufacture consists largely in the application
of economical methods, steam power has been preferred to electric power
because it has been cheaper, except, probably, in running small plants
with electricity supplied from a central station. In Rochester, N. Y.,
this is done to a very considerable extent, the idea being that
electricity produced by steam can be furnished from a central station to
many small factories as cheaply or almost as cheaply as steam power
could be produced on a small scale in each one of the factories. The
centralization of the power economizes both in machinery and labor. In
larger plants, however, it has been found impossible to produce
electricity from steam power to compete with steam. Waste in the
process, steam being the parent force, prevents a pound of coal from
producing as much electric power as steam power. To accomplish such a
thing would be like turning base metal into gold.
But with electric power produced by the water power of the Niagara Falls
tunnel, steam is dethroned as the King of Force. Electricity takes its
place and builds an empire on the banks of the Niagara. And the heart of
that empire is Buffalo, and will be forever. The wonderful power has its
source near to us; only a few miles of copper wire brings it to our
workshops; and here are concentrated shipping facilities unequaled upon
the continent. Economy in collecting the raw material, and distributing
it again in the shape of manufactured articles, is as important as
economy in manufacturing. With cheap power from the Niagara we have the
two great economies joined. What a tremendous aggregation of advantages!
No wonder conservative business men prophesy a million population for
Buffalo within ten years. No wonder the New York _Tribune_ says that our
“manifest destiny is evidently to be something tremendous.”
ROOM IN WHICH TO GROW.
When a person undertakes to point out sections of Buffalo that will be
most affected by cheap electric power he is confronted with a difficult
task. It is certain that the entire manufacturing district will at once
respond to the vivifying influence of the electric currents, and that
new industrial sections will be opened up at many points. Manufactories
will be enlarged, hundreds of new ones will be started, as hundreds of
manufacturers from the outside will crowd in to take advantage of the
splendid opportunities open to all. Fortunately, we have a great deal of
room in which factories may grow and spread, and as the railroads tap a
very large portion of the city, there need be no fear of restricted
shipping facilities. Although Buffalo has a population of nearly
300,000, its population per acre is only 10.23. St. Louis is 11.51;
Cleveland, 16.41; Cincinnati, 18.56; San Francisco, 30.22; Brooklyn,
47.62; New York, 58.87.
These figures are full of suggestion. There is room in Buffalo. And
beyond the city line there are thousands of broad acres ready to be used
for factories or homes.
There has been a steady, legitimate increase in values in all parts of
the city and surrounding country. Particularly in the northern part of
the city, to the north of the park, among lands lying in the direction
from which the electric currents will flow, there has been a strong
movement, and it is probably true that this foreshadows a growth in
values that will be startling to many.
Far-seeing men forecast the future by picturing a city that will grow
towards the seat of the electric current, followed always by the
railroads in the path of progress, until Tonawanda is reached and
absorbed; and stretching further still, will finally reach the great
cataract itself. Is this too much to expect of a city that holds within
its exclusive grasp the two great economies--cheap power, cheap
freights! It is well to keep these two things steadily in mind.
But as the city grows in length it will grow in breadth. It will widen
out on all sides, and all parts of the city will share in the general
prosperity.
THE PHILADELPHIA & READING.
Nothing gives better evidence of the growing importance of Buffalo than
recent action of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company. This great
company has at Philadelphia and along the Delaware River greater
terminal facilities than any other railroad company operating on the
Atlantic seaboard. In February, 1892, it obtained control of the Lehigh
Valley system, thereby securing a direct route from Buffalo to
Philadelphia. The new and more active management saw the tremendous
importance of obtaining a foothold in Buffalo, which already holds the
key to the traffic of the great lakes, and now stands upon the verge of
extraordinary manufacturing development by reason of Niagara’s cheap and
unlimited power. Within a comparatively few years Buffalo will be the
chief manufacturing center of the country; the possibilities of traffic
radiating from this point are boundless. It was a master stroke of
President McLeod of the Philadelphia & Reading to establish his railroad
securely in Buffalo. It is a well-known fact that the Lehigh Valley has
the best terminal facilities of all the railroads centering here. Within
the past few years millions have been spent in perfecting them.
Following this stroke with the Lehigh Valley, the Philadelphia & Reading
made a traffic contract with the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg for
fifty years, giving still further evidence of belief in Buffalo.
The export business of the Philadelphia & Reading is vast, operating as
it does in connection with a line of transatlantic steamers, and this
opens up a new line of thought. The impetus given by cheap and plentiful
power to manufacturing in old and many new directions in Buffalo will of
course be very great, and it is certain that thousands of industries
depending upon export trade will flourish here, close to the storehouses
of the raw material and of the world’s cheapest power. Numerous avenues
to the seaboard are therefore an essential part of the grand plan of our
industrial prosperity, and the addition of the Philadelphia & Reading is
one of very great importance.
Yet this should always be held in mind--would the Philadelphia & Reading
have reached out after Buffalo business if it had not been worth while
reaching for? The fact is that we attract great transportation
enterprises as the magnet does the needle.
THE UNION IRON WORKS.
During the present summer the Union Iron Works, long unused, are being
rebuilt in the southern part of the city, the plans calling for one of
the finest plants of the kind in the United States. Part of the plant
will be used for the manufacture of steel, and at the beginning a force
of about 1,200 men will be employed in this part of the works alone, in
three shifts of eight hours each, work being constant night and day all
the year ’round.
What stimulus is it that brings this industry into life? Why was it not
located at any one of a dozen other points that might be named? Why
wasn’t it located close to the iron mines? These and all other
collateral questions have already been answered in this volume. We have
power cheaper than the cheapest anywhere else, joined with
transportation facilities that are unexcelled--the two great industrial
economies again, cheap power, cheap freights.
THE COPPER INDUSTRY.
One of the largest aggregations of capital in the world is the Calumet &
Hecla Smelting Company. It controls the rich copper mines of Lake
Superior with all their inexhaustible stores of wealth. Two years ago
the company bought a very large tract of land on the banks of the
Niagara within the city limits of Buffalo, and began the construction of
an extensive smelting works. The ore is brought here direct from the
mines, and here it is reduced and the whole output of the mines
distributed from this point. Why did the Calumet & Hecla Company locate
in Buffalo? Because of its peerless location as a distributing centre
for one thing, and cheap electric power for another.
Not long ago, in Buffalo, a live electric wire fell athwart a lamp post,
and in the twinkling of an eye the iron was fused by the current. That
was smelting by electricity. The brainy men of the Calumet & Hecla
Company knew what they were doing when they located beside Buffalo’s
electric power house.
[Illustration:
THE ERIE COUNTY SAVINGS BANK--A MILLION DOLLAR BUILDING.]
ENORMOUS MANUFACTURING CAPITAL.
The foregoing are simply instances of many new enterprises that have
lately been started in Buffalo. The manufacturing establishments of this
city tripled during the ten years between 1880 and 1890, and the
proportion of increase since 1890 has been much greater than before. It
is believed that the capital invested in manufacturing enterprises of
all kinds in Buffalo amounts to nearly $100,000,000. What will it be
after the full force of Niagara’s lightning has struck us?
AN ETERNAL POWER HOUSE.
The source of Buffalo’s electrical power is the force in running water,
but unlike almost every other water power it is never-ceasing. Its
supply comes from the hills and watersheds of half a continent. The
Niagara can never run dry, can never diminish in volume to make an iota
of difference. It is the narrow end of a funnel through which a
resistless force must ever flow. It is a force that will always exist.
For all time the power of the Niagara developed into electricity will
turn the wheels of industry within the great city upon its banks. No
emergency steam plants will be needed, as on the banks of many rivers,
to supply the place of failing water power. Niagara’s power is eternal.
A GREAT FIELD FOR INVESTORS.
Nowhere on the North American continent is there so grand a field for
investment as in Buffalo. Values here have been and are phenomenally
low. It has been and is a conservative city. There has never been a boom
in Buffalo. There has been increase in values, but no inflation, no
boom. Talk of a Buffalo boom has been heard, but the presence of a boom
is here denied most emphatically and earnestly. Values in Buffalo and
vicinity are lower than in any other progressive city of its size in the
country. There has been so much available land that inflation has been
checked. A great deal of Buffalo property has changed hands within the
past year or two, but at very reasonable figures. Millions will be made
within a few years by landholders, and without effort on their part. A
dollar planted in the soil of Buffalo today will spring up as two
dollars next year.
When a city doubles its population it at the same time quadruples the
value of its real estate. It is freely prophesied that Buffalo’s
population will be doubled in five years, quadrupled in ten. The
cheapest power in the world and unequalled shipping facilities--by
railroad, lake and canal--will produce this wonderful metamorphosis.
Cheap power! Cheap freights! A world of wealth is contained in the
combination.
Buffalo has a most substantial foundation on which to build a
manufacturing metropolis. It is a conservative city, full of careful,
cautious business men. It has come along by comparatively slow and
always steady progress, taking no forward step until strong and ready
for it. Commercial depressions have affected us but little. Panics have
avoided us, for panics are like plagues and seize hold where the
conditions are unhealthy. We have had neither plagues nor panics; we
have a healthy city physically and financially.
Now a new era has dawned. We are about to leap to an eminence undreamed
of in years gone by. Strong from the strength of right business living
we are equal to the swifter pace of the new order of things. The sublime
force of the Niagara is chained and diverted to manufacturing uses.
Every wheel in Buffalo will be turned by this marvelous power at far
less cost than machinery can be run anywhere else in the wide world.
There’s a giant force behind the leap. Cheap power! Cheap freights!
These are the talismanic symbols of a mighty greatness.
GREAT IMPORTANCE OF THE LAKE TRAFFIC.
The _Review of Reviews_ in a recent article on the traffic of the Great
Lakes, proves the extraordinary importance of this traffic and of
Buffalo’s location from a commercial standpoint. It must always be borne
in mind that the great bulk of the lake traffic is tributary to Buffalo.
The article referred to is as follows:
“Few persons who have not made a personal study of the matter
realize the magnitude of the traffic of the Great Lakes. There
were over 1,100 more vessels passing through the canal into
Duluth, Minnesota, in 1891, than passed through the Suez Canal
the year previous. Through the “Soo” Canal at the outlet of Lake
Superior there were more than three times as many vessels and
nearly a million and three-quarters tons more freight in 1890
than through the Suez Canal during the same year. There is not
the same absolute record of vessels passing through the Detroit
River as is obtainable for the two points previously mentioned.
But an estimate made by Hon. George H. Ely, of Cleveland, shows
that in 1889 there were more than 36,000,000 tons of freight
carried through the Detroit River. This sum seems large when it
is stated by itself, but the real magnitude will perhaps be
better appreciated when it is known that this is 10,000,000 tons
in excess of the tonnage at all the seaports of the United
States for the same year, and 3,000,000 tons in excess of the
total arrivals and clearances, both coastwise and foreign, of
Liverpool and London combined. The arrivals and clearances of
vessels at Chicago for 1890 numbered 21,541, while the
corresponding aggregate for New York was but 15,283. The entries
and clearances for the entire seaboard of the United States in
that year were 37,756, while for the United States ports on the
Great Lakes the arrivals and clearances numbered 88,280. The
traffic of the Great Lakes in 1891 was 27 per cent of the total
traffic of all the railways of the United States for the same
year, and if the tonnage carried on the lakes had been carried
instead by rail, at the average price per ton per mile, it would
have cost, in round numbers, $150,000,000 more than was actually
paid for its transportation by water.”
BEAUTIFUL GRAND ISLAND.
Down the Niagara river from Buffalo a few miles the noble stream divides
and forms Grand Island. This is Buffalo’s watering-place. Hotels,
club-houses, summer residences and public pleasure grounds abound all
along the river’s banks on either side of the island, while the rich
farming land of the interior is devoted to agriculture. The air of the
island is pure, the scenery delightful, and the ride upon the river to
and from the city is full of restful charm.
Many pleasure steamers ply between the city and the island resorts, and
do a large and remunerative business. But for the great mass of busy
people some sort of transit more rapid than steamers is necessary. This
want is about to be met. A project has lately ripened to build a bridge
from the mainland and run an electric railroad across the bridge and
clear around the island, connecting with the street railroad system of
the city. Long-headed men foresee that when this is accomplished there
will be a quick and large appreciation of land values on the island, and
it is certain that within the next few years fortunes will be made in
Grand Island lands as well as in those of Buffalo and other sections of
the mainland. With the increased demand for manufacturing sites,
industrial enterprises will certainly seek that portion of the island
nearest to Buffalo and Tonawanda, and the other side, facing Canada,
will continue to be occupied by summer resorts, club-houses and
residences.
CONCLUSION.
In this little volume an effort has been made to acquaint the reader
with the splendid present and the glorious future of Buffalo.
Among the great events in the history of industrial enterprises the
turning of Niagara’s water power into electric force is one of the most
portentious.
A vast field, teeming with wealth, lies open to our view, and the
tremendous possibilities--nay, the certainties--for Buffalo are sharply
defined. If one tunnel can be constructed, so can two, or a dozen, or a
score. Power will keep pace with the demand for it--power cheaper than
any other on the face of the earth--and, as it can be easily
transmitted, it will be chiefly used where it can be best used, and that
is, where the acme of shipping facilities is found and must always
concentrate, in Buffalo.
The thunder of the Niagara will remain where the waters leap, but its
swift lightning is Buffalo’s.
[Illustration:
_NIAGARA FALLS_
160 FEET HIGH]
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[Illustration]
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● Transcriber’s note:
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
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