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.
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