USA > New York > Niagara County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York > Part 12
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and Courier, and the weekly as the Niagara Intelligencer ; the name of the daily was after- wards changed to Lockport Daily Journal, and the weekly to the Niagara Journal. The Dunkirk Journal was established in 1871, and the same year the Lockport Times was started and issued weekly, but during the same year The Morning Times was daily issued from the same office. In 1875 The Catholic Visitor was published, and two years later the Lock-City News was started in the same office. Between the years 1828 and 1830 The Priestcraft Exposed was published, and in 1836 The Frontier Sentinel was started, but existed only during the "Patriot War" excitement.
The following papers have been pub- lished in the village of Suspension Bridge :
The Niagara City Herald was started in 1855 by G. HI. Hackstaff. In 1870 The Sus- pension Bridge Journal was established, and now has a large circulation, being chiefly devoted to local news.
The village of Niagara Falls has had the following papers :
The Niagara Falls Journal was estab- lished in 1837 by Francis & Ward. The Niagara Chronicle was started in 1838, the Iris in 1846, the Niagara Times in 1855, and the Niagara Falls Gazette in 1854.
Niagara County Agricultural Society .- It was organized at the court-house in 1841, and held several cattle shows and fairs. It was reorganized in 1858, and in 1879 had over twenty acres of a fair ground adjoining the corner of Washburn and Willow streets in the city of Lockport. The Farmers' club and Fruit Growers' society was formed in 1873, and has one of the finest horticultural libraries to be found in the State.
On September 14, 1877, a county pioneer society was formed at Olcott.
103
OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
County Home .- Prior to 1829 each town took care of its own poor. In that year the county purchased a farm of ninety-one aeres in the western part of the town of Loekport, on which was erected a frame building to which about thirty poor were transferred from the different towns. In 1833 the main part of the present building was ereeted. It is a stone structure, 60 x 100 feet in dimensions and three stories in height, with a commodious basement. To it were added, in 1845, two three-story stone wings, 40 x 60 feet, one of which was intended for insane persons. Rear wings have been added since for hospital and other purposes. Since 1875 children have been sent to the Home for the Friendless in Lockport, and the insane to Utica and the Willard asylum. In 1854 twenty - nine aeres were added to the farm, and an inex- haustible quarry of soft limestone on the farm is worked and the broken limestone sold at fifty cents per load for macadamizing roads.
Niagara County Medical Society .- This organization was formed in 1823, and has had a continuous existence until the present time. An annual meeting is held on the first Tuesday in June; semi-annual, first Tuesday in January; and quarterly, first Tuesdays in March and September.
Insurance .- After several vain attempts on the part of George L. Pratt, of Ridge- way, Orleans county, he was finally successful, on December 18, 1877, in organ- izing the "Farmers Mutual Insurance Association of Niagara and Orleans eoun- ties." The office of this association is at Ridgeway, and it insures buildings and live stoek. Life and fire insurance is repre- sented in the county by reliable agents of
the leading companies of the United States and Great Britain.
Hydraulic Canal. - The early French explorers and traders, impressed by the magnitude of the water-power at Niagara, built a mill beside the rapids just above the Falls. In colonial times the British selected a site in the same neighborhood and erected a mill, used for preparing timbers for forti- fications along the river. Immediately below were subsequently erected the Sted- man and Porter mills, the first structures of the kind on the Western frontier. These were soon followed by the construction of two large raceways, which were used by manufacturing establishments, as was also Bath Island, situated in the rapids above the American Falls.
The water-power at Niagara was first utilized on a large scale by the construction of the Hydraulic canal, about three-quarters of a mile in length, commencing at a point on the shore of the river above the Falls, where the water is deep and navigable, and terminating on the high bank of the gorge below the Falls. The cliff along the bank of the river near the lower termination of the canal is occupied by large manufactur- ing establishments.
The Cataract mill, the first established on the Hydraulic canal, was erected by Charles B. Gaskill in 1874. The capacity of the mill has been largely increased. It now turns out 700 barrels of flour per day. The canal became the property of Jacob F. Schoellkopf, to whose enterprise and fore- sight the development of Niagara Falls as a manufacturing center is largely due. The ereetion of the flouring mill of Schoellkopf & Matthews was commenced in 1877. It started with twenty-two run of stone, and
104
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
by reason of the power and shipping facili- ties, became so successful that it was necessary to increase the capacity. In 1881 it was remodeled, the stones replaced by rollers, and the product increased to 2,000 barrels per day.
When the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company became the owners of the Hydraulic canal, other manu- facturing industries increased. The Niagara Wood Paper Company erected a mill for the manufacture of wood pulp, and a second mill wassoon after erected by John F. Quigley. A third mill, now the property of the Cataract Manufacturing Company, was subsequently established. All of the pulp mills have since erected additions fully as large as the first structures. When the mill of the Niagara Falls Paper Manufacturing Company was appropriated by the State of New York at the establishment of the State Reservation at Niagara, in the year 1885, the Pettebone Paper Company erected a larger and better mill in the milling district. In 1889 an addition to the establishment was built and the capacity of the mill doubled. The Oneida Community (limited), of Niagara Falls, has established one of the largest sil- ver plating works in the United States, and has also added an extensive steel chain manufactory to the establishment. Carter & Company (limited), manufacturers of counter check books, located at Niagara Falls when the goods were first introduced. The establishment has been enlarged several times. A third flouring mill, "The Cen- tral," has been established, with a capacity of two thousand barrels per day. Schoell- kopf & Matthews' Niagara Flouring mill, and The Central Flouring mill, standing side by side at Niagara Falls, are the largest flouring mills east of Minneapolis, and are
almost continually run to their full capacity. The establishment of the flouring mills ne- cessitated the building of large cooper shops. All the barrels used by the mills are manu- factured in the mill district. This branch of industry gives employment to a large number of men.
The business of the Brush Electric Light and Power Company, organized in 1881, has continuously inereased. It now fur- nishes light not only for Niagara Falls, but for Suspension Bridge, two miles distant. The wires of this company also eross the Niagara river to Canada, and light Niagara Falls, Ontario, making a circuit of several miles along the shore of the river on each side. The Niagara Falls Brewing Com- pany's establishment is one of the most suc- cessful and prosperous concerns of the kind in the country. Since the erection of the buildings additions have been made suffi- cient to double its capacity. The building of so many mills led to the erection of Phil- pott & Lcuppie's machine shop, an exten- sive establishment located in the heart of the mill district. Every branch of business established during the past fifteen years has been obliged, by increased demand, to double its capacity.
The railroads at Niagara were built in 1836. The International Railway Suspen- sion Bridge, one of the greatest achievements of engineering science, was built in 1855, and Niagara Falls at once became a great railroad center, and the channel of commu- nication between the lakes and the ocean. The great Cantilever railway bridge was built in 1883. No other bridge ever having been completed upon the same principle, it attracted the attention of the scientific world by its beauty, strength and safety. It is an object of curiosity to visitors from
105
OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
all parts of the world, and divides with the railway suspension bridge the traffic of the great railway lines centering at Niagara. The upper or new suspension bridge was built in 1869, and constituted at the time the longest single span in the world.
The water-power upon the Hydraulic canal was first utilized in 1875, and was found to be superior to the water-power on the raceways and Bath Island, and had the further advantage of abundant railroad facilities, and was located so far from the cataract as not in any manner to deface the natural scenery of the Falls.
Equal advantages are offered for the commerce of the lakes by means of the Niagara river. An appropriation has been made by the United States government for the further improvement of the Niagara river above the Falls which will materially hasten the actual existence of the cheapest as well as the most available water-way in the world. Upon the completion of this channel, vessels can come down the Niagara river with their loads of lumber, grain, coal, ore, etc., to be unloaded upon the wharves and docks of mills and factories. They will have a continuous passage from the cities of the west and the great chain of lakes direct to Niagara Falls. Grain will be unloaded at the mills, and manufactured in transit. Wheat can be shipped from any field in America without delay of transfers, manufactured into flour and taken directly to its destination. The value of imports of merchandise into the Niagara district from Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and northwest territory alone was $4,455,- 772 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889. This is the largest valuation, with two ex- ceptions, shown by any of the northern border and lake ports. In the in-transit
and trans-shipment trade where extraordi- nary dispatch is required, Niagara ranks sixth as compared with the twenty-four prin- cipal custom districts. There are but three lake ports that show as large an amount of American and foreign tonnage entered and cleared in 1889, as the Niagara district.
Historic Points .- From the State Reser- vation many historical points on the Ni- agara frontier are visible. At the mouth of Cayuga creek, five miles above the falls, on the American side, La Salle, in 1679, built and launched the "Griffin," the first vessel that sailed the upper lakes. Further down, at the " old French landing," within the res- ervation, La Salle and Father Hennepin and their followers embarked after the portage of their canoe from Lewiston. The landing was used by the early French and British traders, and, before their coming, by the Indians of the Neutral Nation and their successors, the Senecas. About a mile above the falls is the site of the French Fort du Portage, destroyed by Joncaire before his retreat in 1759. The old stone chimney of the French barracks is yet standing, and the outlines of Fort Schlosser, built by the Brit- ish in 1761, are visible. December 29, 1837, during the "Patriot rebellion," the steamer Caroline was seized at Schlosser landing, about two miles above the falls, towed out into the river, and allowed to drift with the current over the falls.
On the opposite shore of the river is the Canadian village of Chippewa, the site of the battle of Chippewa, July 5, 1814. On the height, on the Canada side, west of the Horse-shoe Fall, the battle of Lundy's Lane took place, July 25, 1814, and further down the river the lofty shaft of Brock's monu- ment marks the battle ground of Queenston Heights, October 13, 1813.
106
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Census Statistics .- We compile of Niagara county the following from the United States census reports :
U. S. Census.
Population.
U. S. Census.
Population.
1810
8,971
1860
50,399
1820 22,990
1870 50,437
1830
18,482
1880
54,173
1840
31,132
1890 62,491
1850 .42,276
1900
Census.
White.
Colored.
1810
8,932.
39
1820
.22,908.
82
1830
18,380
109
1840
30,891
241
1850
41,959
317
1860
49,882.
1870
49,989
448
1880
53,756 399
1890
POPULATION BY NATIVITY.
Census.
Native.
Foreign.
1860
36,087
14,312
1870
37,210
13,227
1880
41,353
12,840
1890
Native and foreign population of Niagara county in 1880 :
Born in the State. 38,362
Pennsylvania. 650
New Jersey
152
Massachusetts 310
Connecticut. 249
Vermont. 506
British America 2,679
England and Wales 1,980
Ireland 3,388
Scotland.
274
German Empire
4,250
France
104
Sweden.
8
NATIVITY AND COLOR IN 1870.
Towns. Native. Foreign. White. Col'ed.
Cambria.
1764
381 2141 4
Hartland.
2687 539 3222
4
Lewiston
2169 790 2944 15
Lockport
2289
743 3017
15
Lockport city
8937
3489 12205
221
New Fane
2620
477 3095
2
Niagara
4258
2574
6666
166
Suspension Bri'ge 1458
818 2267 9
Niagara Falls.
1853
1153 2866
1771
1
Porter
1607
435
2041 1
Youngstown
334
142
476
0
Royalton
3597
1129
4720
6
Middleport
596
135
730
1
517 Somerset 1546
316
1857
5
Wheatfield 2000
1406
3406 0
North Tonawanda
430
257
687
0
Wilson
2438
474
2904
8
Wilson village .... 584
77
655
6
Lewiston village ..
531
239
758
12
Pendleton village. 177
37
214
0
Wolcottsville ...... 353
403
756
0
POPULATION IN 1875.
Cambria.
2,022
Hartland.
3,235
Lewiston
2,829
Lockport.
2,842
Lockport city
12,624
New Fane
3,300
Niagara
6,876
Pendleton
1,675
Porter
2,102
Royalton
4,990
Somerset
1,918
Wheatfield
4,168
Wilson.
2,847
Tuscarora Indian Reservation 404
Part of Tonawanda Indian Res.
10
In Asylums, etc.
62
51,904
140
Pendleton. 1298
474
107
OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
POPULATION OF MINOR CIVIL DIVISIONS.
1870
1880
1890
Cambria
2145
2267
2007
Hartland
3226
3340
2843
Lewiston
2959
2768
2577
Lockport.
3032
2847
2773
Lockport city
12426
13522
16038
Ward 1
3547
4537
Ward 2.
2931
2827
Ward 3.
4744
6113
Ward 4.
2300
2561
New Fane
3097
3462
3170
Niagara
6832
7432 10979
Suspension Bridge
2276
2476
4405
Niagara Falls
3006
3320
5502
Pendleton
1772
1730
1514
Porter.
2042
2278
2210
Youngstown
476
490
Royalton
4726
4888
4632
Middleport.
731
771
1217
Somerset
1862
2015
1962
Wheatfield.
3406
4390
8808
North Tonawanda
687
4793
Wilson
2912
3234
2978
Wilson village
661
662
683
Totals.
50437 54173 62491
In 1880 there were 26,915 males and 27,258 females in the county. Of school age-from five to seventeen-there were 7,524 males and 7,442 females ; and of mili- tary age-from eighteen to forty-four- there were 10,540, while of citizenship age there were 14,778.
In 1880 there were 4344 farms in Niagara county, with 269,401 acres of improved land, and including buildings and fences, valued at $25,274,000. The value of farm- ing implements was $1,172,000, and of live stock $2,100,000. The cost of building and repairing fences for 1879 was $63,000, and the cost of fertilizers used was $23,000, while the value of all farm products was placed at $3,845,000.
VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS, 1880.
Cereals.
Bushels.
Wheat
866,531
Corn
833,226
Oats
751,549
Barley
495,541
Buckwheat
12,653
Rye
7,496
The value of orchard products was $784,- 000. There were 53,567 tons of hay raised, besides 3,000 pounds of hops, 438,982 bushels of Irish potatoes, and 2,795 pounds of tobacco.
In 1880 there were in the county: 14,- 655 horses, 46 mules, 25 oxen, 12,171 milch cows, 8,635 other cattle, 33,231 sheep, yielding 178,000 pounds of wool; and 17,- 258 swine. The dairy products were 302,- 000 gallons of milk, 1,359,000 pounds of butter, and 43,000 pounds of cheese.
In 1880 there were 285 manufacturing establishments, with a capital of $3,300,000, employing over 2,700 hands, paying nearly $800,000 yearly wages, and working up an- nually $3,000,000 worth of material into $5,000,000 worth of products.
The following is the assessed valuation and taxation as equalized by the board of supervisors for Niagara county for 1879, as returned to the census department :
Real estate. $26,516,410
Personal property. 1,891,561
State tax.
57,663
County tax.
86,161
Local and school taxes.
185,384
Total wealth 28,407,971
Total taxes 329,208
The debt of Niagara county in 1880 was, bonded $618,401, floating $14,682, which was provided for by a yearly sinking fund of $3,333.
108
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Cities, Villages, and Towns .- Lockport, the county seat and metropolis of Niagara county, is a city of locks, whose construc- tion was the primary cause of the city's wonderful industrial life, remarkable devel- opment, and phenomenal growth. Lock- port is destined to become the seat of great industries, and will rank in the future as one of the leading manufacturing centers of the Empire State. Lockport is built upon a series of declivities, and lies between Rochester and Buffalo, on the Niagara di- vision of the New York Central railroad where it crosses the Erie canal, which de- scends sixty feet from the level of Lake Eric, and has ten double locks of solid nia- sonry at the "City of Locks."
It was laid out as a village about 1822, was named Lockport by Dr. Isaac W. Smith, over the proposed designation of Locksborough, by Jesse P. Haines, who surveyed it, and was incorporated as a vil- lage March 26, 1829. It became a city on April 11, 1865, and by means of its won- derful water-power, and large manufactur- ing establishments, is rapidly increasing in wealth and population. Its manufactories include flouring and saw-mills, woolen fac- tories, iron foundries, machine shops, etc., while its celebrated limestone quarries con- tribute largely to its wealth, and its whole- sale mercantile houses rival in trade the cities of Rochester and Buffalo.
It has three chartered and three private banks, two daily and three weekly news- papers, and fifteen churches. It has a first- class theatre-Hodge opera house, and one of the finest systems of Union schools to be found in the United States. Merchants' Gargling Oil is manufactured here, and has been introduced all over the world by John Hodge. The Holly manufacturing and
steam heating companies were organized in 1859 and 1877; and the Lockport glass works in 1840. The Niagara nurseries are in a prosperous condition, and Glenwood cemetery, which was laid out in 1865, is justly regarded as one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the State. A superior hy- draulic cement is manufactured in the city, and the marble finishing business was estab- lished as early as 1844. Lorenzo Dow preached near the court house in 1828, the McLeod excitement occurred in 1840 and 1841, and in 1852 General Winfield Scott visited Lockport and made a short address to the scholars of the Union school. The population of Lockport in 1875 was 12,624; in 1880, 13,522; and in 1890, 16,038. The different churches, and secret and beneficial societies are well represented.
Niagara Falls Village .- It is situated in the south-western part of the town of Ni- agara, at the side of the cataract, from which it has derived its name. It was first called Schlosser, then was changed in name to Manchester, after the New England city of that name, and finally was incorporated, July 7, 1848, as the village of Niagara Falls. Its Hydraulic canal and Hydraulic tunnel have been described in preceding pages, and it is not necessary to glance at the few of its industries not mentioned in connec- tion with the subjects referred to. Judge Augustus Porter was the pioneer settler, coming in 1805, and in the succeeding year was joined by his brother, General Peter P. Porter, of whom an account is given else- where in this volume. The first mills were built by Judge Porter, and were destroyed by the British in 1813, when they burned the village, which then contained about twenty log cabins. It was soon rebuilt, and has continued slowly to increase in size,
109
OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
until it is now the second city in size in the county. Sam. Patch, in 1829, made his famous leap of ninety-six feet at the Falls, and in 1877, Capt. Rhodes repeated his leap with some variations. In 1859 and 1860, M. Blondin made some wonderful tight rope performances on a cable across the river, which were equalled by Signor Farina some years later, and by Mlle. Spelt- crina in 1876. Seven railroad lincs run to or through the village: Michigan Central, New York Central, New York, Lake Erie & Western, Lehigh Valley, West Shore, Rome, Watertown &' Ogdensburg, and Grand Trunk.
Suspension Bridge Village was first called Bellevue, then became incorporated, June 8, 1854, as Niagara City, and of late years has been known as Suspension Bridge. This village is situated on Niagara river, two miles below the Falls, opposite the Canadian town of Clifton, and adjoining Niagara Falls village. It has many fine buildings, one of which is the U. S. custom house. In 1845 E. P. Graves and Orson Childs' farm houses were the only buildings on the site of the village. It is supplied with water by the Holly system of water works, and possesses an efficient fire de- partment.
The Railroad Suspension bridge, more commonly called the "Old Bridge," is two miles below the Falls, is over 800 feet long, and spans, 230 feet above its waters, one of the most turbulent streams on the globe, whose current just below flows at the rate of thirty miles an hour. It has two dis- tinct roadways-the one above for trains, the one below for carriages and foot passen- gers. It is owned by two stock companies, and cost $500,000. It was built under the superintendence of J. A. Roebling, and fin-
ished in 1858. The following are the di- mensions : Length of span, 822 feet; height of tower above rock (American side ), 88 feet; height of tower (Canadian side), 78 feet; height of tower above floor of railway, 60 feet; number of wire cables, 4; diameter of each cable, 10} inches; number of No. 9 wires in each cable, 3,365; ultim- ate aggregate strength of cables, 12,400 tons. It is rightly regarded as a great tri- umph of engineering skill. Nine thousand miles of wire are employed in the four cables. The first string was carried across the chasm by means of a kite, and then heavier ropes were dragged across, till the cables themselves thus formed the passage. The New Suspension bridge is directly below the American and Canadian ( Horse- shoe ) Falls. It was originally built in 1868- 69 with wooden trusses and towers. In 1884 new towers of iron were put in, and in 1887-8 new cables, anchorages and steel trusses were substituted for the original ones, making the entire structure actually new, and widened to allow the passing of carriages. The length of span is 1268 feet between towers. Height of roadway above river, 190 feet. Height of towers, 100 feet. Length of cable between anchorages, 1,840 fect. Next in order is the well known Cantilever bridge, completed in 1882. This constitutes the most recent, but, under ex- isting ideas, not by any means the last of the several wonders of engineering skill displayed in sight of Niagara Falls. Three thousand tons of iron and steel were em- ployed in its construction. Its total length is 910 feet, and the clear span across the river is 494 feet 9 inches.
North Tonawanda, "the Lumber City," is the larger, and that part of the city of Ton- awanda which is on the north bank of Ton-
110
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
awanda creek and the east shore of Niagara river in the southwestern part of the town of Wheatfield and Niagara county. The village was first called Niagara, but soon became North Tonawanda, and as such was incorporated May 8, 1865. George Burger was the first resident on the site of the city, where James Sweeney built the first frame dwelling in 1828. James Carney and William Vandervoote were among the pioneer settlers of the place. While the city has many flourishing enterprises, yet it is its lumber business which has made it known all over the country. North Tona- wanda is one of the world's leading lumber marts, and excepting Chicago handles more lumber than any other city in the United States. Col. Lewis S. Payne contributed much to the establishment and early devel- opment of the early lumber trade of the place, which in 1890 received over 700 mil- lion feet of lumber and turned out 173 mil- lion shingles from its shingle mills. Tona- wanda Island, owned by Smith, Fassett & Co., has been made an immense lumber district, to which, by rail, boat, and canal, wonderful quantities of lumber are brought from Canada and the North-western States. North Tonawanda has a fine railroad sys- tem, excellent churches, the Holly system of water works, strong banks, a live news- paper, and a good Union school. From 1880 to 1890 its population increased from 1,492 to 4,793, a fact which fully illustrates its rapid growth of the last decade.
Cambria .- The town of Cambria is one of the central towns of the county, and is bounded on the north by the town of Wil- son, on the east by Lockport, on the south by Pendleton and Wheatfield, and on the west by Lewiston. It was created March 11, 1808, and then embraced a large part of
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