Niagara River Greenway
Three Centuries of Commerce The first great ship to pass by this spot was the Griffin built by Robert de La Salle in 1679 near Cayuga Island just around the bend behind Grand Island. She sailed up the Niagara River past this point on her way to Buffalo whence she set sail across the Great Lakes, being the first commercial ship to sail these inland waters. The Erastus Corning, a 216 foot 3-masted bark, was built here at Tonawanda by F.N. Jones in 1867 with a capacity to haul 50,000 bushels of cargo. "Mr. F.N. Jones, ably assisted by his Foreman - Mr. John Humble - has achieved the triumph of naval architecture on the inland waters, in building the bark Erastus Corning, the largest and finest vessel that ever sailed fresh water. She was built at Tonawanda and was launched Wednesday April 24th." Buffalo Daily Courier May 6, 1867 By the mid 19th Century, hundreds of lake ships began visiting Tonawanda Harbor, most bringing in lumber from the extensive Great Lakes watershed. By the 1890s, Tonawanda Harbor was the 2nd largest lumber port in the world. The 20th century saw the addition of even larger lake freighters hauling iron ore and more lumber to the Tonawandas. Lumber hookers, the most frequent lake vessels to visit Tonawanda in the late 19th Century, played a major roleHM Number | HM1UWM |
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Tags | |
Placed By | Historical Society of the Tonawandas |
Marker Condition | No reports yet |
Date Added | Saturday, October 8th, 2016 at 5:01pm PDT -07:00 |
UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 17T E 671749 N 4764786 |
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Decimal Degrees | 43.01635000, -78.89233333 |
Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 43° 0.981', W 78° 53.54' |
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 43° 0' 58.86" N, 78° 53' 32.4" W |
Driving Directions | Google Maps |
Area Code(s) | 716 |
Closest Postal Address | At or near Riverwalk, Tonawanda NY 14150, US |
Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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