BUFFALO 



984 



BUFFALO BILL 



Social service has been thoroughly and 

 wisely developed. Buffalo has a large number 

 of benevolent organisations, including about 

 twenty hospitals, several of which conduct 

 nurses' training schools. The Charity Organ- 

 ization Society (the first of its kind in the 

 United States, organized in 1877), with head- 

 quarters in the building of Fitch Institute, a 

 combined day nursery for children of poor 

 working mothers and a training school for 

 nursemaids, conducts charitable activities. In 

 the city are also the Buffalo Orphan Asylum, 

 Saint John's Orphan Home, the Home for the 

 Friendless, Saint Vincent's and Saint Joseph's 

 orphanages (Roman Catholic), the Church 

 Home for Aged Women, Ingleside Home for 

 Erring Women, Saint Mary's Asylum for Wid- 

 ows and Foundlings, Saint Mary's Institute 

 for Deaf Mutes, the state insane hospital and 

 the Erie County penitentiary. 



Trade and Industry. In extent of traffic, 

 Buffalo is one of the principal ports of the 

 world, although open for commerce but eight 

 months of the year. The total water tonnage 

 of the port during 1915 was 19,488,427, an in- 

 crease of more than 5,000,000 tons over that 

 for the year 1910. A large volume of busi- 

 ness is done with Canada, and the annual ex- 

 port trade amounts to about $80,000,000. The 

 extensive water-borne commerce of the Great 

 Lakes, consisting principally of grain and flour, 

 lumber, coal, iron ore and fish, is here re- 

 shipped to be sent by smaller craft and by 

 rail to other cities and to the ports of the 

 Atlantic seaboawl. Buffalo handles more wheat, 

 flour and coal than any other city in the world. 

 The total grain receipts in 1915 were 258,404,- 

 000 bushels, of which nearly one-half was 

 wheat. It is handled by huge fixed and float- 

 ing grain elevators and transfer towers. The 

 elevators have a combined storage capacity of 

 22,000,000 bushels and can handle 5,000,000 

 bushels daily. Large quantities of the lumber 

 and iron ore are docked at Tonawanda. Buffalo 

 is one of the largest live-stock markets for 

 horses, cattle, sheep and hogs in the United 

 States, and annually distributes more than 

 15,000,000 pounds of fish over territory from 

 Boston to Denver. The railroad stockyards 

 are in the southeastern part of the city, and 

 south are extensive coal trestles, the permanent 

 supply stations of the railroads. 



In manufacture Buffalo ranks second to New 

 York City in the state. The industries include 

 sixty per cent of all those recognized by the 

 United States Census Bureau, the value of 



the products being about $251,000,000 annu- 

 ally. The capital invested in these is $243,- 

 311,000, and nearly 68,000 men are employed. 

 The greatest number, 22,000, are engaged in 

 the manufacture of foundry and machine-shop 

 products, in which the city ranks high. It 

 exceeds all other United States cities as a 

 market for linseed oil, used largely in the man- 

 ufacture of paint. At Lackawanna, a southern 

 suburb, is one of the largest steel plants in 

 the world. Manufacturing has grown rapidly 

 and has been stimulated by the unusual ship- 

 ping opportunities of the city and by a cheap 

 and abundant power supply furnished by 

 Niagara Falls. 



History. When this was yet the red man's 

 country, herds of buffalo visited the salt licks 

 here, and their name was associated with the 

 first settlement. La Salle, in 1679, built near 

 here the first ship navigated on Lake Erie, the 

 Griffon, and erected a fort, which was soon 

 destroyed by fire. Cornelius Winney, an In- 

 dian trader, the first permanent white settler, 

 arrived probably about 1788. A large tract of 

 land, which included the present site of the 

 city, was purchased in 1792 by the Holland 

 Land Company. Joseph Ellicott, the agent of 

 the company, later known as the founder of 

 Buffalo, platted the city in 1801 and 1802, after 

 the plan of the city of Washington. The place 

 was called New Amsterdam until 1801. 



During the second war with Great Britain 

 the territory about Niagara Falls was the 

 scene of active military operations, and in 1813 

 Buffalo was almost completely destroyed by 

 a force of British and Indians. The settle- 

 ment, which had been incorporated as a vil- 

 lage in 1813, was rebuilt after the conclusion 

 of peace, and its importance as a trade center 

 was apparent as commerce developed on the 

 Great Lakes. The Erie Canal was completed 

 in 1825 and from that time the growth of 

 Buffalo has been rapid. It became a city in 

 1832. The first grain elevator in the world 

 was erected here in 1843. In 1852, Black Rock, 

 a village to the north, and Buffalo's trade rival, 

 was annexed. Millard Fillmore and Grover 

 Cleveland made Buffalo their home, and Cleve- 

 land was mayor of the city when elected gov- 

 ernor of New York in 1882. The Pan-Ameri- 

 can Exposition was held in Buffalo from May 

 1 to November 1, 1901. President William 

 McKinley, while attending the exhibition, was 

 assassinated on September 6. T.E.F. 



BUFFALO BILL. See CODY, WILLIAM FRED- 

 ERICK. 



