The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1885-09-16
BUFFALO AS A RAILROAD
CENTER.

All through the summer tho harbor
is full of lifc--tugs dart lutheran yon,
lake vessels, big and little, receive
their cargocs, huge steamers and pro-
pcllors take on passengers or freight
for the upper lakes, while numerous
ploasure-yachts. named for sea- -nymphs
and dryads, steam toward the Inter-
national bridge, which opens in tho
center with massive swing, and per-
mits them to pass through on thoir way
''down tho river" Finally, and most
important, stretching in all directions,
arc the iron rails over which the COM
merco of the great West reaches tho
Eastern soaboard.
10 win the heart of this queen city
to-day you must court her IN tho role
of railway king. You must como as
tho protector of a new trunk line, pre-
pared to lay your millions at her feet
III return for a site from which to throw
another girdle around the city, and
with thousands moro to invest for q
commanding lot on Delaware Avenue,
"Ihe Circle" or fronting one of tho
many park approaches, whereupon to
erect palace of Medina sandstone, or
n cypress shingled villa rivaling those
of Newport or the famous JorHsalom
Road.
Never was the imperial position of
Buffalo appreciated as now, when all
signs point to tho realization of the
prophecy that she is destined to sit
''liko a commercial Constantinople
stretching along the Bosporus of tho
broad Niagara, and holding the KEYS
of tho Dardanellcs that shall open and
shut tho gates of trado for tho regions
cast and west" A study of the globe
Will show why, from tho founder Of tho
city in 1897 down to the latest railway
manager of 1885, eager to obtain an
approach to the International Bridge,
already inadequate to tho demands of
traflic and mooting tho revival of tho
old scheme of tunneling under the Nj
agara, every sagacious person has
predicted n great commercial future
for tho Queen City of the empiro State.
With the completion of the Northern
Pacific Railroad tho whole world will
pay her tribute. Not only will the
products of tho immense wheat fields
of the Red River, tho coal, oil, and iron
OF Pennsylvania, the lumber of Michi-
gan and the Southern States, the ores
of Lake Superior, and the live stock of
the great western prairics pass through
her gates, but tho commerce of Asia
with the Atlantic States, with England,
and tho Continent.
In tho year off Bufalo's incorpora-
ton, 1882, when there were but ono
hundred miles of rail in tho United
States, was granted the first permit to
put railroad through Eric county.
Now, without the repetition of q rod,
over nine thousand miles of travel arc
possible on the lines contering at Buff
fa Ia alOnp tha or rfip NJ ,,oipt o,- fo,.
minus of twenty different railway lines.
No city, save one, owes so much to
railroads rs does Buffalo. Her termin-
al facilities are unequaled and her
transfer yards at East Buffalo are tho
largest in tho world, with the outlying
country cncompasscd for miles about
by q network of tracks, approach
ing closer and closer as they
near the city, and extending around
the harbor-side to pour their freight
OF coal, SALT and petroleum in
to the lake vessels in return for n car
60 of grain, flour, lumber, iron, and
copper ore. Commercial Buffalo is
like portly and sclf-satisticd spider,
supreme in the center of her wob.
Tho business man has his choice
among six different routes to New
York city. The New York Central
and Hudson River; the New York,
Lake Erie, and Western; the New
York, West Shore, and Buffalo; the
Delaware, Lackwanna, and Western;
the Lehigh Valley; and the Buffalo di-
vision OF the Buffalo, New York, and
Philadelpha-all lead east amid the
beautiful scenery of the interior of the
State. Stretching away in an opposite
direction toward the western prairics
are the Lake Shore and Michigan
Southern, the Michigan Central, the
Grand Trunk of Canada, tho Great
Western division, and tho New York,
Chicago, and st. Louis, or Nickel
plate" The remaining nino roads arc
local lines. Among the most impor-
tant of those is the Buffalo Creek Rail-,
way, belt freight line four miles in
length, extending down on either side |,
of tho ship canal. Every railroad en-
tering the city has connection with
this, and by tho terms OF the city's
grant its rates are uniform to all, thus
placing the railroads on equal terms.
Within the city limits railroad cor,
porations own 2,746 acres, or moro
than four square miles of territory.
There are 1876 miles of standard guage'
track-morc miles Of rail than are con-
tanned in any other city on the globe
Within the corporate boundaries Of his
own town the Bulfalonian could enjoy
railroad journey equal TO trip to
New York over tho Llckawanna, with
twcnty-six miles to spare. Jane M.
Welch in Hn,pcr's Magazine for Jnty.