with all parts of the United States. The Michigan Central Railroad dives
under the river, from Detroit to Windsor, through one of the most
remarkable tunnels in the world. For years the cars of the Michigan
Central Railroad, both passenger and freight, were carried across the
river on ferryboats. This, of course, was a very slow way of crossing,
but a bridge was impractical for various reasons, so at last it was
decided to build a tunnel.
When the engineers studied the river bottom, they found that it was
covered with mud so deep that it was impossible to build a tunnel under
it. Instead they built the tunnel of steel on the river bank, and when it
was completed they sank it in sections and then fastened it together.
Two belt-line railroads, extending from the river bank, circle through
Detroit. One is some two miles from the center, the other, six. Along
these railroads are many factories which have switches directly into
their plants. This makes shipping a simple matter for the Detroit
manufacturers.
Now, having learned something of the history of Detroit, something of the
manufacturing which it does and the commerce it carries on, let us take a
look at the city itself.
[Illustration: THE CITY OF DETROIT]
The older parts of most great cities are badly laid out. In very few
cases do men realize that their little settlements are to grow into large
cities. And so they pay little attention to laying out streets, but in
building their houses follow the farm lanes and often the paths made by
the cows as they are driven to and from the pastures.
This is not always the case however. Washington was laid out long before
it ever became a city, and, in consequence, it has magnificent broad
streets and many parks.
[Illustration: NORTH WOODWARD AVENUE]
Detroit was one of the badly laid-out settlements, but in 1805 a fire
burned every house in Detroit with one exception. Now at that time Judge
Augustus B. Woodward was a prominent figure in the city government. When
the fire wiped out the old town, the judge thought that a plan should be
made for Detroit just as had been done for Washington. His idea was to
have a great circle, called the Grand Circus, in the center of the town.
Two streets, 120 feet wide, were to cross this circle, dividing it into
quarters, and from the circle other broad avenues were to radiate in all
directions. As the city grew, other circles were to be built with streets
radiating from them.
Unfortunately the citizens of Detroit did not have the belief in the
growth of their city that Judge Woodward had, and so his scheme was only
carried out in part. That part, however, gave to Detroit its Grand
Circus, its broad avenues, and its down-town parks, and did much to earn
for it the title of the City Beautiful.
Detroit to-day has many splendid and costly residences. It has also
street after street filled with comfortable medium-priced houses where
the workmen live, and its people are fond of boasting that it is a city
of homes.
Woodward Avenue, which is 120 feet wide, is named after Judge Woodward.
This avenue runs from the river bank right through the entire city. At
its lower end it is the principal retail street of the city, while
further out are many fine residences.
As the town grew, a boulevard was built, which, starting at the river,
runs completely around the city at a distance of some two and a half
miles from the center. This boulevard is known as the Grand Boulevard and
is more than 12 miles long and from 150 to 200 feet in width. In the
center is a narrow strip upon which are grown flowers, trees, and grass,
while upon either side run macadam roads.
[Illustration: AT BELLE ISLE]
The most popular of Detroit's parks is Belle Isle. This is on an island
of about 700 acres, directly opposite the city. Originally the island was
for the most part a swamp infested with snakes. In order to get rid of
the snakes a drove of hogs was turned loose on the island, and for a
long time it was known as Hog Island. Then the city bought it and turned
it into a park. The swamps were drained, and lakes and canals were built,
which in the summer time are covered with canoes and boats. In the winter
they make excellent places for skating. Playgrounds, baseball fields, and
picnic grounds were laid out and a zoo was built, as well as one of the
best aquariums in the country. And here, too, is a horticultural
building, where many rare plants and flowers are grown. A large part of
the island was covered with woods, and this was left in its native state,
with winding roads built through it. The island is connected with the
mainland by a broad bridge.
The health conditions of Detroit are excellent. Its water supply is taken
at a depth of 40 feet from the Detroit River, just where it leaves Lake
Saint Clair. The city has an ample sewerage system. It has many fine
public schools, and here also are the University of Detroit and the
Detroit colleges of law and medicine. In short, from every point of view
Detroit is a good place in which to live.
A short time ago prizes were offered to the public-school pupils in the
fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades for the five best essays on "Why
I am Glad I live in Detroit." Here is what one sixth-grade boy wrote
about his home city:
"What a beautiful city is Detroit," says the world-wide traveler, as
he passes along its broad avenues, in the shade of its magnificent
trees. "Detroit has a fine commercial center," says the enterprising
manufacturer as he surveys its busy wharves. "What an excellent
situation this city has," says the farmer, as he comes trudging to town
with his load of produce. "In Detroit life is worth living," says the
happy pleasure seeker, as he whiles away his time, either on the lake
or in its many parks and boulevards. "You can have loads of fun at
Belle Isle," whispers the small boy, as he thinks of the many pastimes
which so appeal to every child. "What an interesting history has
Detroit," says the historian, as he recalls its many struggles, first
with the Indians, then with the French, and last of all the English.
Many strangers will come to our city during the next few months, and
I know that after they have seen it and go to their homes again, they
will tell their neighbors and friends of our beautiful city, and I, who
live here, will be very proud of it.
=DETROIT=
FACTS TO REMEMBER
Population (1910), more than 450,000 (465,766).
Ninth city in rank, according to population.
Important shipping and manufacturing center.
Important center for trade with Canada.
Most important center in United States for the automobile industry.
Place of great historical interest.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY
1. How does Detroit rank among our great cities in population,
manufactured products, and exports?
2. What were the ambitions of the French governors, traders, and
missionaries of Canada in the early days?
3. Why did the French build forts on the narrow rivers and straits
that connect the Great Lakes?
4. Describe Detroit and its surroundings in 1701.
5. How and when did the English first acquire Detroit?
6. How did the development of the farm lands about the city help the
growth of Detroit?
7. Tell about its growth since 1760, and give three causes.
8. Name and describe some of the industries of the city.
9. Tell something of its vast wholesale and retail trade.
10. Show how the location of Detroit influences its commerce and
contributes to its growth.
11. Name three products in the manufacture of which Detroit leads all
other cities in the country.
12. What conditions have made Detroit a great center for commercial
relations with Canada?
BUFFALO
About 1783 Cornelius Winne, a trader, built a little log store at the
mouth of Buffalo River, which empties into Lake Erie. That was the
beginning of Buffalo, the queen city of the lakes, the home to-day of
more than four hundred thousand people.
To understand the wonderful growth of this city we must go back to the
days of the Revolution and see New York in those early times. Almost all
the people of the United States then lived on the narrow strip of land
lying between the Atlantic Ocean and the Appalachian Highlands. The high
forest-covered mountains made a barrier that kept the colonial settlers
from attempting to push out toward the west.
But in New York State nature had left an opening between the mountain
ranges, along the courses of the Hudson and the Mohawk rivers. Settlers
had early followed these streams and built homes in their valleys. Beyond
lay the trackless hunting grounds of the Indians--the great West.
With the close of the Revolution things began to change. New York made a
treaty with the Indians, whereby they agreed to sell large tracts of
their lands. Pioneers pushed their way into the unknown wilderness of the
western part of the state and found a beautiful fertile country. Their
reports led hundreds to follow them. Soon central and northern New York
were dotted with settlements. More and more immigrants kept coming, all
seeking the land beyond the Appalachian Mountains. The great western
movement of the nineteenth century had begun.
[Illustration: A LOCKPORT LOCK]
Winne had built his trading post before this westward movement reached
Lake Erie. For some time he lived in his log cabin in the midst of the
forest, with no neighbors except the Indians with whom he traded. But
gradually other settlers came and built homes near him. By 1804 there
were about twenty houses in the little settlement, which, for a short
time, was called New Amsterdam.
[Illustration: Barge canals shown by solid lines; Erie and other canals
by dotted lines.
NEW YORK'S CANALS]
By 1812 the name had been changed to Buffalo, and the town had a
population of 1500. That year war with England broke out, and in 1813 a
body of British soldiers with their Indian allies crossed the Niagara
River during the night, took the Americans by surprise, and burned
Buffalo. Of its three hundred houses, just one escaped the flames. But
nothing daunted, the men began to rebuild their homes, and in a few years
no traces of the fire were to be seen.
In early times the Indians going from the seacoast to the Great Lakes had
followed the Hudson and Mohawk rivers and then gone on directly west to
Lake Erie. With the coming of the white man the Indian pathway grew into
a road, and in 1811 stagecoaches began to run over this road between
Buffalo and Albany.
But carrying passengers and freight by stagecoach was very expensive, and
a few men, headed by Governor De Witt Clinton, began to say that the
state ought to build a canal connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson River.
Many laughed at this idea. They knew very little about canals and thought
it foolish to waste millions of dollars on a useless "big ditch," as they
called it.
[Illustration: TRAVELING BY CANAL]
However, those in favor of the scheme finally won, and the work of
building the Erie Canal was begun in 1817. It very nearly followed the
old trail between Albany and Buffalo and was 363 miles long. Eighty-three
locks raised and lowered the boats where there was a difference of level
in the canal. Lockport, a city 25 miles northeast of Buffalo, was named
after these locks, there being 10 of them there.
In 1825 the work was completed; the Erie Canal was opened, and at last
there was a waterway between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic. All the
towns along the canal held a great celebration. None had better reason
for rejoicing than Buffalo. In 1825 Buffalo was a little hamlet on the
frontier. Thanks to the Erie Canal, it was soon to become one of the
leading cities of the country.
It was not long before the "big ditch" was known as the "path to the
great West." A rush of emigration further west followed, and all these
travelers stopped at Buffalo, for here they had to change from the
flat-bottomed canal boats to the lake vessels. Hotels were crowded,
business flourished, and Buffalo became "a great doorway of the inland
sea."
[Illustration: THE BARGE CANAL NEAR BUFFALO]
During the first years after its completion little freight was carried
over the Erie Canal, but settlers kept flocking into the West, and before
many years these Western pioneers were raising far more grain than they
could use. Lake commerce began. Hundreds of ships brought wheat, lumber,
and furs to Buffalo from the West and returned laden with manufactured
goods. Buffalo was the chief lake port, and for many years shipping was
its leading industry.
Then came the railroads. The first railroad to Buffalo was completed in
1836. A few years later, trains ran between Albany and Buffalo, and in
time carloads of grain were shipped by rail. Though shipments by canal
continued and even increased for a time, the railroads gradually did more
and more of the carrying, and finally robbed the canal of much of its
former importance.
[Illustration: THE SITE OF BUFFALO]
Still, shipping by canal was cheaper. Improvements have been made in the
Erie Canal from time to time, and in 1903 the state voted $101,000,000
for the enlargement of the Erie, Oswego, and Champlain canals into the
1000-ton-barge canal. When this is completed it will be 12 feet deep and
will float much larger barges than did the Erie Canal.
But to return to Buffalo. The city's location naturally made it one of
the great centers of the country. Only the Niagara River separates the
city from the most thickly settled part of Canada, and it is therefore a
most convenient meeting place of the two countries. Already Buffalo's
trade with Canada amounts to over $50,000,000 a year.
Besides being one of the chief commercial centers of the country, Buffalo
is an important manufacturing town. Three things are necessary to success
in manufacturing--raw materials, power, and a market where the finished
goods can be sold. Buffalo has all of these near at hand. The country
round about is singularly rich in natural resources. Forests, fertile
farm lands, and rich iron and coal deposits are all within easy reach of
the city and supply it with raw material at small cost for
transportation.
No city in the world has greater advantages than Buffalo in the matter of
power. The Niagara Falls furnish an unlimited supply of electric power,
which is a substitute for coal and, for many purposes, more convenient.
Buffalo's nearness to the coal fields of Pennsylvania makes the cost of
both hard and soft coal low. Natural gas and oil furnish about one fifth
of the power now used in the city. Both are found near Buffalo, stored in
the pores and cavities of rocks. Holes are bored into the rocks, and the
petroleum or rock oil is pumped into huge tanks. The gas is carried by
underground pipes to the city, where it is used in heating and lighting
thousands of homes and factories.
Lastly, Buffalo does not have to ship its products far to find a market.
Within 450 miles of the city live almost 50,000,000 people, and lakes,
canals, and railroads offer cheap and rapid transportation to all parts
of the country. Thirteen steamship lines and 18 railroads enter the city.
There are 2 trunk lines from New England; 5 from New York; 1 from
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington; 1 from St. Louis; and 4 from
Chicago.
[Illustration: LACKAWANNA IRON AND STEEL COMPANY]
The richest iron mines in the world are located south of Lake Superior,
but there are no coal deposits in this region, and coal is necessary for
the manufacturing of iron and steel. As it was cheaper to ship the ore to
the coal than to carry the coal to the ore, there were men who, as early
as 1860, saw that iron and steel could be manufactured with profit in
Buffalo. Though blast furnaces were built from time to time, the industry
did not attract great attention until 1899. In that year the Lackawanna
Iron and Steel Company, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, moved to Buffalo and
built an immense metal-working plant. This plant is south of the city and
extends several miles along the shore of Lake Erie. The company has built
a ship canal over half a mile long, which the largest lake vessels can
enter. On one side of this canal are hundreds of coke ovens and the
storage grounds for coal; on the other side are the ore docks, a row of
huge blast furnaces, and the steel works with their numerous mills,
foundries, and workshops.
In the coke ovens millions of tons of soft coal are every year turned
into coke, which is really coal with certain things removed by heating.
This coke is used in melting the iron in the blast furnaces--so called
because during the melting strong blasts of air are forced into the
furnaces. These furnaces are almost a hundred feet high, are made of
iron, and lined with fire brick. Tons of coke, limestone, and iron ore
are dropped in from above by machinery, and the intense heat of the
burning coke melts the iron, which sinks to the bottom of the furnace
while the limestone collects the impurities and forms an upper layer. At
the bottom of the furnace there are openings where the fiery-hot liquid
runs off into molds, or forms, in which it cools and hardens. The waste
matter, called slag, is also drawn off at the bottom. More coke and ore
are added from above, and the smelting goes on night and day without
interruption until the furnace needs repair. After the iron has been
separated from the ore, it is taken to the foundries where it is made
into steel rails and many other kinds of iron and steel goods.
Other iron and steel companies have sprung up in Buffalo, and the city
and its vicinity is now manufacturing enormous quantities of pig iron,
steel rails, engines, car wheels, tools, and machinery.
[Illustration: THE ELECTRIC BUILDING]
Back in the first half of the nineteenth century New York was the leading
wheat-raising and flour-producing state. The first flour mill in the
Buffalo district was run by water power furnished by the Erie Canal. As
larger mills followed and steam took the place of water power, Buffalo
became an important flour-milling center. Later, wheat began to be raised
further west, and the Central States soon took the lead in wheat growing
and flour milling. But Buffalo had the advantage of an early start. Its
mills were already built and working. Grain from the West kept pouring
into the city to be stored in its great grain elevators, and the
production of flour increased. Larger mills were built, some of them
making use of the Niagara water power. To-day there are more than a
dozen companies in Buffalo operating flour mills which turn out over
3,000,000 barrels of flour in a year.
[Illustration: THE BUFFALO HOME OF THE NEW YORK TELEPHONE COMPANY]
Buffalo's slaughter-house products for a single year are worth millions
of dollars. There are two large meat-packing firms in the city,
slaughtering over a million cattle and hogs each year. They both had
small beginnings in the butcher business more than fifty years ago. In
1852 the first stockyards were opened, and the city's live-stock industry
began. Shipments of live stock from the grazing states of the West
increased until the city became the second cattle market in the world,
Chicago alone handling more live stock than Buffalo.
When first settled, the lake region was covered with forests, and lumber
was one of the first products sent eastward by lake steamers. Millions
and millions of feet of pine were towed down the lakes on barges and
transferred to canal boats at Buffalo, and the city became one of the
great lumber markets of the country. Although shipments from the Northern
forests have not been so great in the last twenty years, the lumber
industry continues to be of great importance to Buffalo. In addition to
pine from the lake region, the city receives hard wood from the South.
You see enormous piles of lumber in the yards of the city itself, and
Tonawanda, a suburb ten miles north of Buffalo, has the largest lumber
yards in the world. These yards carry on a large wholesale and retail
trade, and sawmills, planing mills, and many lumber industries have grown
up around them. Mill work, doors, mantels, piano cases, and furniture are
some of the things made in the Buffalo workshops.
[Illustration: THE CITY OF BUFFALO]
[Illustration: THE ARMORY]
While commerce and industry were thus developing, the city itself was
growing in size, population, and beauty. It extends about ten miles along
the shore of Lake Erie and the Niagara River. In the residence section
there are thousands of beautiful homes, set well back from broad streets
and surrounded by wide lawns and gardens. Delaware Avenue, with its
branching boulevards and parkways, is the finest of these residence
sections.
[Illustration: WADING POOL IN HUMBOLDT PARK]
[Illustration: A PUBLIC PLAYGROUND]
Several large parks and many smaller squares are scattered throughout the
city, while swimming pools, wading ponds, and public playgrounds delight
the hearts of the children. Lake breezes make the city cool in summer,
and altogether Buffalo is one of the cleanest, most healthful, and most
beautiful cities of the country.
[Illustration: THE ALBRIGHT ART GALLERY]
Through the southern part of the city flows the sluggish and winding
Buffalo River. In the early days the mouth of this stream was the only
harbor of the port, although it was then very shallow. Millions of
dollars have been spent in deepening and improving this inner harbor,
while a larger outer harbor has been made by inclosing a part of the lake
by breakwaters. The harbor of Buffalo is now one of the best on the Great
Lakes.
About two miles north of the mouth of Buffalo River is The Front, a park
overlooking the water and giving a beautiful view of Lake Erie, the
Niagara River, and the Canadian shore. It is a government reservation,
and here is Fort Porter. Further north the International Railroad Bridge
connects Canada with the city of Buffalo.
[Illustration: THE McKINLEY MONUMENT]
Delaware Park, in the northern part of the city, is the largest and most
beautiful of Buffalo's parks. Near the northeastern entrance is the
zoölogical garden, with a seal pool, bear pits, and many strange and
interesting animals. In the western part is the Albright Art Gallery, a
beautiful building of white marble. Here, too, is the Buffalo
Historical-Society Building, which was the New York State Building during
the Pan-American Exposition which was held in Delaware Park and on the
adjoining land in 1901.
[Illustration: NIAGARA FALLS]
In the center of Niagara Square stands the McKinley Monument, erected by
the state of New York in honor of President William McKinley, who was
shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, on September 6, 1901. It
was in this city that President Roosevelt took the oath of office after
President McKinley's death. It is also worthy of note that Buffalo was
the home of two of our presidents--Fillmore and Cleveland.
The business district of Buffalo is only a short distance from the
harbor. The most important business streets are Main Street and Broadway.
Twenty miles north of Buffalo the Niagara River plunges over a precipice
more than one hundred and fifty feet high, forming the world-famous
Niagara Falls. The width of the river, the beauty of the mighty waters as
they rush thundering over the edge of the precipice, the foam and spray
rising from the foot of the cataract, all combine to make Niagara Falls
the greatest natural wonder on the American continent. In the middle of
the stream lies Goat Island, which divides the Falls into the Horseshoe
Falls on the Canadian side and the American Falls on the New York side.
Hardly less interesting than the Falls are the power plants on both sides
of the river, which are making the force of Niagara do a mighty work. It
has been reckoned that the volume of water which passes over the Falls is
two hundred and sixty-five thousand cubic feet each second. Think of it!
This tremendous rush of water, the experts tell us, represents five
million horse power. To make this gigantic power of use to man, canals
have been built above the Falls to bring water from the river to the
power houses where its great force turns huge water wheels and produces
electric power. Cables of copper wire raised high in the air carry this
power to all the surrounding country. It runs many of Buffalo's
factories, lights the city streets, and moves its trolley cars as well as
those in Syracuse, one hundred and fifty miles away.