Decades before the term ‘Buffalo Wings’ evoked the image of a plate of fried chicken parts covered in hot sauce, the wings produced in Buffalo were covered in fabric and aluminum. Buffalo Wings flew in defense of freedom in two world wars. Machines built in Buffalo broke the sound barrier, pioneered vertical flight, lifted astronauts off the surface of the Moon, and trained others to fly the Space Shuttle. For More information about these images, go to post: “Four Aviation Milestones Produced in Buffalo.”
A Solution was Needed for Unloading Grain Boats
Grain handling did not exist in Buffalo before the canal opened, except for those who grew and milled grain for their own use, as described in the previous post. The cost of transporting grain from the Midwest to an eastern market was about $100 per ton or 5 cents per pound. Add in the cost of milling and storing, and grain products were too expensive for most consumers of the day.
By 1830, 146,000 bushels of grain were handled through the port of Buffalo at a cost of $10 a ton (5 cents per ten pounds).
The ever-increasing amount of grain handled presented another problem for which Buffalo would provide a solution. The lake freighters that brought bulk cargo and the canal boats that took it to the east were unable to travel in the other’s milieu, and the lake ships brought grain in quantities larger than the canal boats could handle. Storage for the excess grain was necessary
Grain was shoveled by hand into buckets that were manually raised to the top of tall storage bins. The system was slow, inefficient, and back-breaking. Therefore, it was not uncommon for the harbor to be clogged with boats waiting to be loaded or unloaded. Nonetheless, the amount of grain handled increased tenfold by the end of the 1830s.
In 1842 Joseph Dart adapted Oliver Evans’ mechanical handling system (which Evans developed for flour mills) for use in storage of grain. Harnessing the power of steam, Dart’s mechanical elevator replaced the back of many a laborer that was necessary to move grain by hand. Dart developed a powered system of buckets on a conveyor that carried the grain to the top of the silo where it was weighed and gravity-fed into the storage bins. Dart’s most important feature was the “marine leg” that extended from the silo into the hold of the ship. A relatively few workers were required to shovel the grain towards the buckets where the marine leg picked it up. A ship that took dozens of workers days to unload could now be unloaded in a matter of hours.
The price of grain declined more, increasing the demand for storage capacity. Within fifteen years of Dart’s invention, the ten elevators at Buffalo had a storage capacity of 1 ½ million bushels. Buffalo was the greatest grain milling center in the world at that time.
The John S. Skinner, out of Milan, Ohio, was the first boat to be unloaded by Dart’s elevator. The Skinner docked in early afternoon, and her load of grain was unloaded in time for the boat to leave for home with a load of salt before dark. The Skinner returned to Buffalo with a second load of grain before many boats, still being unloaded by hand, had completed offloading their first load of grain. Needless to say that shippers, who were paid by the load, were happy with the Dart elevator.
The effect of the lowered cost of transportation on the price and availability of goods cannot be overstated. Besides the grain, the Erie Canal carried vast quantities of lumber, livestock, and salt, among many other products. This brought products to Eastern markets that were previously too expensive for the average person or were simply not available and it led to opportunity for those seeking a new life in the “west.” (To a resident of New York City, Boston , or Philadelphia, Buffalo was the western frontier of the country at that time.) The port of Buffalo handled traffic in both directions and was an industrial powerhouse in the 19th century. At the same time, Buffalo was contributing to the growth of the United States as a whole.