Parks and Cemeteries.— The park system includes six large parks of 1,229 acres, con nected by a magnificent system of boulevards, speedways and approaches, covering 28.45 miles, and 367 acres of minor plots and squares. Much the largest is Delaware Park, on the north side, with an area of 362 acres and a lake of 46% acres; here and on adjacent grounds the Pan-Amencan Exposition of 1901 was held. It is continued on the south by Forest Lawn Cemetery, comprising 239 acres — by far the greatest of the 26 cemeteries in the city— and contains monuments to former President Mil lard Fillmore and the Indian chief, Red Jacket. On the west of the park begin the grounds of the Buffalo State Hospital for the Insane, oc cupying 203 acres. Toward the southeast is Humboldt Park, 56 acres; and overlooking the lake at the point where the river starts is the Front, a bold bluff 60 feet high. This is the site of Fort Porter, garrisoned by United States soldiers. The parade ground consists of 48 acres, and is a favorite promenade because of the fine view it affords. On the south side of the city are South Park, 155 acres, and Cazenovia Park, 106 acres. Another large park is Riverside, 37 acres, on the north side of the city. There are attractive squares in different parts of the city, including Lafayette, Niagara and Gates. Lafayette contains the Soldiers and Sailors' monument, erected at a cost of $50,003. A beautiful marble shaft, in honor of the mem ory of former President William McKinley, who died in Buffalo, stands at Niagara square.
Principal There are numerous large and fine buildings in the city. Among these are the Marine National Bank building, the Iroquois Gas building, the Electric building, the Ellicott Square, the New York Telephone building and the Manufacturers and Traders' National Bank building. The city also owns two large halls, Elmwood Music Hall and the Broadway Auditorium. Other noteworthy struc tures are the Albright Art Gallery, a gift to the city from John J. Albright, and ranking as one of the leading art centres in the country; the home of the Buffalo Historical Society, which was the $200,000 New York State build ing at the Pan-American Exposition; the Federal building, erected at a cost of $2,000,000, the City and County Hall, the Chamber of Commerce building, the 65th and 74th regi mental armories, the Central Y. M. C. A. build- • ing, the Buffalo State Normal school and five of the most complete and expensive high schools in the United States.
Trade and Buffalo's position at the eastern terminus of the Great Lakes and the distributing point for the East has made it one of the large cities on the lakes. It ranks as one of the world ports in the volume and variety of products received and transshipped, although the harbor is ice-bound one-third of the year. In 1915 the tonnage of the port was upward of 19,000,000 tons, and the customs receipts were $1,170,195. Naturally, its fore most handlings are of western products, such as grains, flour and provisions, as well as live stock. Its receipts of grain, though varying with the crop, in 1915 was 258,404,000 bushels, while the flour receipts were 8,429,000 barrels. Next in importance is the live stock industry. Buffalo handles more horses and sheep than any other American port, and is among the first in cattle and hogs. It receives more than 15,000,000 pounds of fish yearly, largely from the Georgian Bay district, and sends it to in land points east and west. The lumber industry is another of the leading ones in the city, its receipts of this product in 1915 being 85,884,000 feet, and it receives immense quantities of pig iron and ore, the same in 1915 reaching 5,358,000 tons. The total export trade is over $80,000,000
a year. This immense development, in a meas ure, has been made possible by co-operation between the Federal, State and municipal gov7 ernrnents in providing facilities for handling the business — breakwaters, piers, basins, canals, etc.— and as yet Buffalo has not commenced to utilize to any degree of capacity the numerous facilities available. Originally, as with most lake ports, the harborage was only the shallow mouth of a small river, Buffalo Creek, but which now is navigable nearly three miles in ward. The United States has built a great series of stone and cement breakwaters, four miles long, at a cost of upwards of $2,000,000, which forms an inner and an outer harbor, one of the best on the Great Lakes. The State has built Eric and Ohio basins, which will be used for terminals of the new and enlarged barge canal. The city has deepened the Buffalo River giving a ship canal more than two miles long and navigable to a depth of 23 feet. The banks of the river are lined with in dustries, and there still is much land vacant for development. Nearly a score of steamboat lines run from Buffalo to different lake points, including the excursion routes to nearby resorts and more distant places. The Welland Canal, about 20 miles west of Buffalo, connects Lake Erie with the Saint Lawrence River. Improve ments now under way will, when completed, make it possible for the largest lake steamers to go from the lake to the river. Niagara River to beyond the Tonawanda is navigable for the largest boats on the Great Lakes, the Federal government having built a ship canal, immense locks and dredged a 23-foot channel. New York State's barge canal system, built at a cost of $130,000,000 and involving an enlarge ment of the principal canals of the State, makes a continuous waterway from Buffalo through the heart of the State to the Hudson River. As to railroads, Buffalo is the terminal of the main line or some spur of every trunk road from Philadelphia to Quebec; from the east in the United States, the New York Cen tral, Erie, Lehigh Valley, Delaware, Lacka wanna & Western, Pennsylvania, Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh ; from the west, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, Michigan Cen tral, New York, Chicago & Saint Louis, Wa bash; from Canada, Canadian Pacific, Grand Trunk and Canada Southern. Electric lines entering the city are the Buffalo and Lake Erie Traction Company from the west, and the Buffalo, Lockport & Rochester Electric Railway from the east. There are 250 passenger trains a day, 700 miles of railroad tracks within the city limits, and six square miles of territory are owned by railroads. There are ferry lines connecting the United States and Canada at Fort Erie, and the International Bridge con nects Buffalo and Bridgeburg, Ontario. The in ternal conveniences for carrying on a great trade correspond to the railroad and steamship facilities. Two great passenger terminals were practically completed in 1916, and there are 22 Immense grain elevators, with a storage capacity of 28,250,000 bushels. Some of these are among the largest in the world. The chief one, the Frontier, has a capacity of 4,000,000 bushels. The first elevator in the world was built here in 1843. The largest coal pocket in the world. that of the D., L. & W. Railroad, is located here. It is 5,000 feet long, and ships a large part of the 3,864,000 tons of coal annually ex ported. Upwards of 10,000,000 tons are re ceived in the city yearly by rail. The coal docks can handle 29,000 tons each day. The railroad coal stocking trestles are in the eastern part of the city, as are the great stockyards, nearly 100 acres in extent.