The New Student's Reference Work/Buffalo (New York)

Buf′falo, a western city of New York state, at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of Niagara River.  It has about two and a half miles of water-front on the lake and a like amount on the Niagara River, a part of which is a bluff 60 feet high.  It has one of the best harbors on the lake, formed by the Buffalo River, the entrance being protected by an immense breakwater, 4,000 feet in length.  A new harbor has also been made by the building of a breakwater in the Niagara River.  The city is a desirable place of residence, especially in summer, during which the lake breezes moderate the temperature.  It has a beautiful series of parks connected by broad driveways.  It has nearly 200 churches and many fine public and business buildings.  Its railway facilities are great, while it has the advantage of the trade of the Erie Canal.  Its commerce has grown wonderfully in recent years, and it is now the fourth shipping city in the New World.  The first grain elevator on the lakes was built here, and it now has 41 elevators with 21,000,000 bushels’ capacity.  It has 1,500 manufactories, and handles great quantities of flour, lumber, coal and mineral ores.  It is supplied with natural gas, piped from Pennsylvania and from Canada, and with electric power from Niagara Falls tunnel.  It has over 200 miles of street-railway and 500 miles of paved streets, including 250 miles of asphalt thoroughfares.  Pure water is supplied from Lake Erie.  There are a good system of public schools and several colleges and seminaries, as well as public and private libraries.  The town was burned in the War of 1812 by the British and Indians.  In 1901 Buffalo was the seat of the Pan-American Exposition, and the mecca for travelers and sight seers from Europe and all parts of the New World.  It was here (on September 6, 1901), that President McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist.  Population, 423,715.