Part 9

In the coke ovens millions of tons of soft coal are every year turned into coke, which is really coal with certain things removed by heating. This coke is used in melting the iron in the blast furnaces--so called because during the melting strong blasts of air are forced into the furnaces. These furnaces are almost a hundred feet high, are made of iron, and lined with fire brick. Tons of coke, limestone, and iron ore are dropped in from above by machinery, and the intense heat of the burning coke melts the iron, which sinks to the bottom of the furnace while the limestone collects the impurities and forms an upper layer. At the bottom of the furnace there are openings where the fiery-hot liquid runs off into molds, or forms, in which it cools and hardens. The waste matter, called slag, is also drawn off at the bottom. More coke and ore are added from above, and the smelting goes on night and day without interruption until the furnace needs repair. After the iron has been separated from the ore, it is taken to the foundries where it is made into steel rails and many other kinds of iron and steel goods.

Other iron and steel companies have sprung up in Buffalo, and the city and its vicinity is now manufacturing enormous quantities of pig iron, steel rails, engines, car wheels, tools, and machinery.

Back in the first half of the nineteenth century New York was the leading wheat-raising and flour-producing state. The first flour mill in the Buffalo district was run by water power furnished by the Erie Canal. As larger mills followed and steam took the place of water power, Buffalo became an important flour-milling center. Later, wheat began to be raised further west, and the Central States soon took the lead in wheat growing and flour milling. But Buffalo had the advantage of an early start. Its mills were already built and working. Grain from the West kept pouring into the city to be stored in its great grain elevators, and the production of flour increased. Larger mills were built, some of them making use of the Niagara water power. To-day there are more than a dozen companies in Buffalo operating flour mills which turn out over 3,000,000 barrels of flour in a year.

Buffalo's slaughter-house products for a single year are worth millions of dollars. There are two large meat-packing firms in the city, slaughtering over a million cattle and hogs each year. They both had small beginnings in the butcher business more than fifty years ago. In 1852 the first stockyards were opened, and the city's live-stock industry began. Shipments of live stock from the grazing states of the West increased until the city became the second cattle market in the world, Chicago alone handling more live stock than Buffalo.

When first settled, the lake region was covered with forests, and lumber was one of the first products sent eastward by lake steamers. Millions and millions of feet of pine were towed down the lakes on barges and transferred to canal boats at Buffalo, and the city became one of the great lumber markets of the country. Although shipments from the Northern forests have not been so great in the last twenty years, the lumber industry continues to be of great importance to Buffalo. In addition to pine from the lake region, the city receives hard wood from the South. You see enormous piles of lumber in the yards of the city itself, and Tonawanda, a suburb ten miles north of Buffalo, has the largest lumber yards in the world. These yards carry on a large wholesale and retail trade, and sawmills, planing mills, and many lumber industries have grown up around them. Mill work, doors, mantels, piano cases, and furniture are some of the things made in the Buffalo workshops.

While commerce and industry were thus developing, the city itself was growing in size, population, and beauty. It extends about ten miles along the shore of Lake Erie and the Niagara River. In the residence section there are thousands of beautiful homes, set well back from broad streets and surrounded by wide lawns and gardens. Delaware Avenue, with its branching boulevards and parkways, is the finest of these residence sections.

Several large parks and many smaller squares are scattered throughout the city, while swimming pools, wading ponds, and public playgrounds delight the hearts of the children. Lake breezes make the city cool in summer, and altogether Buffalo is one of the cleanest, most healthful, and most beautiful cities of the country.

Through the southern part of the city flows the sluggish and winding Buffalo River. In the early days the mouth of this stream was the only harbor of the port, although it was then very shallow. Millions of dollars have been spent in deepening and improving this inner harbor, while a larger outer harbor has been made by inclosing a part of the lake by breakwaters. The harbor of Buffalo is now one of the best on the Great Lakes.

About two miles north of the mouth of Buffalo River is The Front, a park overlooking the water and giving a beautiful view of Lake Erie, the Niagara River, and the Canadian shore. It is a government reservation, and here is Fort Porter. Further north the International Railroad Bridge connects Canada with the city of Buffalo.

Delaware Park, in the northern part of the city, is the largest and most beautiful of Buffalo's parks. Near the northeastern entrance is the zoölogical garden, with a seal pool, bear pits, and many strange and interesting animals. In the western part is the Albright Art Gallery, a beautiful building of white marble. Here, too, is the Buffalo Historical-Society Building, which was the New York State Building during the Pan-American Exposition which was held in Delaware Park and on the adjoining land in 1901.

In the center of Niagara Square stands the McKinley Monument, erected by the state of New York in honor of President William McKinley, who was shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, on September 6, 1901. It was in this city that President Roosevelt took the oath of office after President McKinley's death. It is also worthy of note that Buffalo was the home of two of our presidents--Fillmore and Cleveland.

The business district of Buffalo is only a short distance from the harbor. The most important business streets are Main Street and Broadway.

Twenty miles north of Buffalo the Niagara River plunges over a precipice more than one hundred and fifty feet high, forming the world-famous Niagara Falls. The width of the river, the beauty of the mighty waters as they rush thundering over the edge of the precipice, the foam and spray rising from the foot of the cataract, all combine to make Niagara Falls the greatest natural wonder on the American continent. In the middle of the stream lies Goat Island, which divides the Falls into the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side and the American Falls on the New York side.

Hardly less interesting than the Falls are the power plants on both sides of the river, which are making the force of Niagara do a mighty work. It has been reckoned that the volume of water which passes over the Falls is two hundred and sixty-five thousand cubic feet each second. Think of it! This tremendous rush of water, the experts tell us, represents five million horse power. To make this gigantic power of use to man, canals have been built above the Falls to bring water from the river to the power houses where its great force turns huge water wheels and produces electric power. Cables of copper wire raised high in the air carry this power to all the surrounding country. It runs many of Buffalo's factories, lights the city streets, and moves its trolley cars as well as those in Syracuse, one hundred and fifty miles away.

Such then, with its wonderful power, its command of material, its beautiful and important location, is the Buffalo of to-day. The little settlement of one hundred years ago has become the eleventh city in size in the United States.

=BUFFALO=

FACTS TO REMEMBER

Population (1920), over 500,000 (506,775).

Eleventh city according to population.

Important lake port.

One of the best harbors on the Great Lakes.

Located at the western end of the Erie Canal.

Great transfer point between lake boats and canal boats and railroads.

Important railroad center.

Center for live-stock trade.

Important center for wheat, lumber, meat packing, and the iron and steel industries.

Electric light and power obtained from Niagara Falls.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY

1. How did it happen that the people of New York first came to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains, and where were these first settlements?

2. Tell about the beginning of Buffalo, and give its original name.

3. What was the first route from Albany to Buffalo, and why was it used? How was the journey made between 1811 and 1825?

4. Tell the story of the Erie Canal, and give its effect on Buffalo and the West.

5. How did Buffalo's location make it one of the great centers of industry?

6. What three things are necessary to success in manufacturing?

7. How is Buffalo furnished with power for her great manufacturing interests?

8. Where does Buffalo find a market for her products? How?

9. What great steel company is located near this city? Why?

10. Describe the wonderful coke ovens and blast furnaces near Buffalo.

11. Give some idea of Buffalo's flour mills, slaughter houses, and lumber yards, and of her importance in these industries.

12. What do you know of Niagara Falls and the power plants on both sides of the Niagara River?

SAN FRANCISCO

The United States extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and just as New York is our leading seaport on the Atlantic, so San Francisco is the leading seaport on the Pacific.

San Francisco's history is inseparably connected with the development of the resources of California. In 1769 Spain sent an expedition overland from Mexico to colonize the Pacific coast, and Don Gaspar de Portolá, at the head of these colonists, was the first white man known to have looked upon San Francisco Bay.

Seven years later, in 1776, the Franciscan friars built a fortified settlement on the present site of San Francisco. The Mission Dolores, which is still standing, was begun the same year, and a little village slowly grew up around it.

At the close of the Mexican War, in 1848, California was ceded to the United States, and the Stars and Stripes were raised over the little settlement, whose name was soon changed from Yerba Buena to San Francisco.

In 1848, too, came the discovery of gold in California, and San Francisco suddenly grew from a Spanish village to a busy American town. The population jumped from 800 to 10,000 in a single year. A city of tents and shanties quickly arose on the sand dunes. Thousands of people were leaving their homes in the East to seek a fortune in the gold fields. Many came by water, either rounding Cape Horn or else traveling by boat to the Isthmus of Panama, crossing on foot, and reëmbarking on the Pacific coast. Others came overland in large canvas-covered wagons called prairie schooners.

These newcomers were men of all classes--ministers, lawyers, farmers, laborers. Some were educated, others were ignorant. While most of them were industrious and law-abiding, a considerable number were desperate and lawless men. These last caused much trouble. Gambling, murders, and crimes of all kinds were alarmingly common, and the city government was powerless to punish the lawbreakers. Finally, the better class of citizens formed a vigilance committee, which hung four criminals and punished many in other ways until law and order were established.

San Francisco has been called the "child of the mines." It was the discovery of gold that first made it the leading city of the Pacific coast. From that day the production of gold has been steadily maintained. Nearly $20,000,000 worth is mined in the state of California each year, with a total production of over $1,500,000,000. Later the silver mines in Nevada were discovered and developed, and their immense output brought increased wealth to San Francisco.

As time went on, however, people began to see that California's real wealth lay not so much in her mines as in her fertile farm lands. These, combined with the wonderful climate, have made California a leading agricultural state.

The great central valley of California, about 400 miles long and 50 miles wide, lies between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Coast Ranges. Its farms, orchards, orange groves, and vineyards produce immense quantities of grain, and of grapes, and other fruits. Large numbers of cattle and sheep are raised. In the southern counties many tropical fruits are grown successfully. Irrigated groves of orange, lemon, and olive trees cover thousands of acres. Other important crops are English walnuts, almonds, prunes, and figs. Copper, silver, oil, quicksilver, and salt are also valuable products, while the forest-covered mountains supply excellent lumber. Such is the wealth of California's natural resources, and San Francisco is the great port and market of this rich back country.

As the Sacramento River flows into San Francisco Bay from the north and the San Joaquin from the south, the two offer cheap transportation up and down their valleys, being navigable to river steamers for over 200 miles.

The great bay of San Francisco is the largest landlocked harbor in the world. Here the navies of all the nations could ride at anchor side by side in safety. Though 65 miles long and from 4 to 10 miles wide, the bay is completely sheltered from dangerous winds and storms. It is connected with the Pacific Ocean by a strait called the Golden Gate, which is 2-3/4 miles long and over a mile wide.

Such advantages have made San Francisco a great commercial and financial center. Ships from San Francisco carry the products of California westward to all the countries bordering on the Pacific, while others sail to the Atlantic seaports of America and Europe.

The outgoing steamers are loaded with wheat, cotton, canned goods, oil, barley, prunes, flour, dried fruits, leather, machinery, lumber, and iron manufactures. Incoming steamers bring raw silk, coffee, tea, copra, nitrate of soda, tin ingots, sugar, rice, cigars, coal, burlap, vanilla beans, cheese, and manila hemp.

Already the foreign commerce of San Francisco amounts to more than $150,000,000 annually, and with the increasing trade of Japan and China and the shortened route to the Atlantic through the Panama Canal, the future of its foreign trade cannot be estimated.

In addition to her foreign trade, San Francisco has many growing industries at home. Printing and publishing, slaughtering and meat packing, are among the most important. The canning and preserving of fruits and vegetables is a leading industry of the city. The California Fruit Canners Association employs many thousands of people during the fruit season and is the largest fruit-and-vegetable canning company in the world. It operates thirty branches throughout the state, and its products are sent to all parts of the globe.

Though iron has to be imported,--there being little mined in California,--the city does a thriving iron business. In the early days there was need of mining machinery in the West, and San Francisco at that time began manufacturing it. She also has one of the greatest shipbuilding plants in the United States. The famous battleship _Oregon_, the _Olympic_, the _Wisconsin_, the _Ohio_, and other ships of the United States Navy were built in San Francisco.

In 1906 a severe earthquake shook San Francisco, wrecking many buildings. Fire broke out in twenty places, and as the earthquake had broken the city's water mains, the fire fighters had to pump salt water from the bay and use dynamite to stop the progress of the flames. During the three days of the fire, four square miles were laid in ruins.

Because of occasional slight shocks in former years, the inhabitants had built their city of wood, thinking it safer than brick or stone. They had not thought of the greater danger of fire. This earthquake taught them a lesson. The few skyscrapers in the city had stood the shock remarkably well, and profiting by this experience thousands of modern structures--steel, brick, and reënforced concrete--were built to replace the old wooden buildings. A far more modern and beautiful city has arisen from the ashes of the ruins.

The city occupies 46-1/2 square miles at the end of the southern peninsula which lies between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The site of the city is hilly, especially in the northern and western parts. Market Street, 120 feet wide and the chief business thoroughfare, extends southwest from the water front and divides the city into two parts. The southern district contains many manufacturing plants and the homes of the laboring people. The streets here are level. North of Market Street lie three high hills--Telegraph Hill, Nob Hill, and Russian Hill. In this half of the city are the finest residences, Nob Hill having been given its name in the early days when the mining millionaires built their homes upon it.

The main business section is in the northeastern part of the city, facing the harbor, and is on level ground. It contains hundreds of new office buildings, many of them from eight to twenty or more stories high. Fine modern hotels and beautiful banks add much to the beauty of this part of San Francisco. The most important public buildings are the United States mint and the post office, which escaped the flames in 1906, the customhouse, the Hall of Justice, the new Auditorium, and the city hall. These last two face the Civic Center, which is being created at a cost of nearly $17,000,000.

At the foot of Telegraph Hill is the largest Chinese quarter in the United States. It was completely destroyed during the fire, but is now rebuilt and much improved. Its temples, joss houses, and theaters, its markets, bazaars, and restaurants, with their strange life and customs and their oriental architecture, attract crowds of visitors. There are now about 10,000 Chinese in San Francisco, but their number has been steadily decreasing since the Exclusion Act was passed, prohibiting Chinese laborers from entering this country. It was thought necessary to have this law in order to protect the American workingman on the Pacific coast, as the Chinese laborers who had already been admitted were working for wages upon which no white man could live.

At the foot of Market Street, on the water front, stands the Union Ferry Building, a large stone structure with a high clock tower.

Only one of the cross-continent railroads--a branch of the Southern Pacific--lands its passengers in the city of San Francisco. All the other roads, which include the main line of the Southern Pacific, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé, the Union Pacific, and the Western Pacific, terminate on the eastern shore of the bay and send the travelers to San Francisco by ferry. In consequence, San Francisco has developed the best ferry service in the world, all lines meeting at the Union Ferry Building.

North and south of the Union Ferry Building stretch eight miles of wharves and docks and many factories, lumber yards, and warehouses. At the docks, ships are being loaded and unloaded continually.

In March and April each year a fleet of forty or fifty vessels starts out for the Alaskan fisheries. San Francisco is the leading salmon port of the United States, distributing millions of dollars' worth of salmon yearly. Fisherman's Wharf, at the northern end of the water front, is full of interest, with its brown, weather-beaten fishermen and their odd fishing boats. To the south of the Union Ferry Building is "Man-of-war Row," where United States and foreign battleships ride at anchor.

The cities of Alameda, Oakland, Richmond, and Berkeley are directly across the bay from San Francisco, on the east shore. Like New York, San Francisco is the center of a large metropolitan district, and the residents of these neighboring cities daily travel to their work in San Francisco on the ferries. For several years there has been talk of uniting these cities with San Francisco. If this plan were carried out, it would add over 350,000 to San Francisco's present population, which is between 400,000 and 500,000.

The University of California, in Berkeley, has nearly 7000 students, tuition being free to residents of California. The Leland Stanford University, 30 miles from San Francisco, is another noted institution in the state.

To the north of the Golden Gate is Mt. Tamalpais, 2592 feet high, overlooking the bay and San Francisco. To the south is the Presidio, the United States military reservation, covering 1542 acres. Here are the harbor fortifications and the headquarters of the western division of the United States Army. Fronting on the ocean beach and extending eastward for 4 miles is Golden Gate Park, the largest of San Francisco's many parks and squares.

Occupying part of the Presidio and facing the water at the northern end of the city is the site of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, held in 1915 to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal. That the citizens of San Francisco look to the future was shown at a gathering of business men in 1910, when more than $4,000,000 was raised in two hours for this Panama exposition. The climate of the city (averaging more than 50 degrees in winter and less than 60 degrees in summer), the beauties and wonders of California, the romantic history of the city, exhibits from many parts of the world--all these, the citizens knew, would attract thousands of visitors from afar and make known to the world the advantages and prosperity of the Far West and its chief city, San Francisco.

=SAN FRANCISCO=

FACTS TO REMEMBER

Population (1910), over 400,000 (416,912).

Eleventh city according to population.

Largest city of the Western States.

One of the finest harbors in the world.

The natural shipping point for the products of the rich state of California.

Chief center for the trade of the United States with the Orient.

Leads all American cities in the shipment of wheat.

Has great canning and preserving industries.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY

1. Find by measurements on a map of the United States the distance of San Francisco from New York City in a direct line.

2. Find by consulting time tables or by inquiry of some railroad official how long it would take to make the journey from New York to San Francisco, and what railroad system might be used. Answer this question, applying it to your own city.

3. Who founded San Francisco, and what was it first called?

4. When and how did San Francisco become an American possession?