and in harbor improvements, supplemented by Government expenditure. The city has entered also into a plan to abolish railroad grade crossings, mostly at the expense of the railroads. Buffalo has a bonded debt of over $16,000,000, and the assessed valuation of property (real and personal) amounts to nearly $250,000,000.
Population. Buffalo is one of America's most rapidly growing cities, as is shown by the following census figures: 1820, 2095; 1840, 18,213; 1860, 81,129; 1880, 155,134; 1890, 255,664; 1900, 352,387. During the last decade it rose in rank from eleventh to eighth place among the cities of the United States. The foreign born number 104,000, and the native born of foreign parents number 160,000. The Germans number over two-fifths of the total foreign born, the principal other nationalities represented being the Canadian, Irish, Poles, and English. The negro population is small—1600.
History. In 1679 La Salle visited this locality, and built near the present city the first ship that was navigated on Lake Erie—a little vessel of only 60 tons, called the Griffin. In 1792 there was only one settler here, a trader named Winney, and in 1795, according to the French traveler Liancourt, there was only “a small collection of four or five houses.” In 1792-93 the Holland Land Company, so called, bought a large tract of land in this vicinity, which during 1798-1803 was laid out into townships by Joseph Ellicott. Influenced by Ellicott, commonly called the ‘founder of Buffalo,’ the proprietors decided, in 1801, to establish a town (New Amsterdam) at the mouth of Buffalo Creek, and in 1803-04 a village was laid out under Ellicott's supervision. Though legally New Amsterdam, this new village soon came to be called Buffalo, probably from the immense herds of bison which had formerly frequented the salt licks several miles away, and in 1810 the township of Buffalo, with limits including the present city, was incorporated. In 1811 the first newspaper, the Buffalo Gazette, was published, and in 1818 the first steamboat, Walk-in-the-Water, was built. On December 29, 1813, a British and Indian force of 1200 men, under General Riall, captured Buffalo, and on the 30th, and January 1, almost completely destroyed it by fire. In 1815 it was rebuilt, but its growth was very slow until after the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, when it became a distributing centre between the East and the West. In 1832, with a population of 15,000, it became a city, and since 1857 it has been noted for its manufactures and commerce. In 1853 Black Rock, which for many years was Buffalo's great rival, was brought within the city limits. Buffalo was the home for a time of Millard Fillmore and Grover Cleveland, the latter serving as mayor in 1882. In 1901 (May 1 to November 1) the Pan-American Exposition was held at Buffalo. At this exhibition occurred the assassination of President McKinley, on Friday, September 6, 1901. See Pan-American Exposition.
Consult: Smith, History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County (Syracuse, 1884); Ketchum. An Authentic and Comprehensive History of Buffalo (Buffalo, 1864-65); and Powell, Historic Towns of the Middle States (New York, 1899).
BUFFALO. A town and county-seat of Johnson County, Wyo., in the northern part of the county (Map: Wyoming, F 3). The people are engaged principally in agriculture and stock-raising. Population, in 1890, 1087; in 1900, 710.
BUFFALO-BERRY (Shepherdia argentea). While familiar to horticulturists for many years, the buffalo-berry has but recently taken rank as a fruit-plant. It is a native of the cold, dry northwestern part of North America, where it has achieved its greatest success under cultivation. The buffalo-berry is a shrub with small silvery leaves, short thorny spines or branches, upon which the fruits, of about the size of a common currant, are borne. The plant is dioecious, consequently both male and female forms must be planted in order to insure fruit production. The two forms are easily recognized by the form and distribution of the winter buds; the staminate or male plant bears small rounded buds in dense clusters scattered all along the spurs; the pistillate, or female plant, bears fewer and more elongated buds, usually in pairs along the sides of the spurs. The fruits are either red or yellow, are used for jellies, and often serve instead of currants for this purpose. There are no cultivated varieties on the market. The plant is valuable as an ornamental shrub. See Elæagnus.
BUFFALO BILL. See Cody, William F.
BUFFALO-BIRD. A bird closely associated with wild oxen or buffaloes, picking the parasites from their hides to eat, and warning the animal of possible danger by the expression of its own alarm. (1) An ox-pecker (q.v.). (2) A tick-bird. See Tick.
BUFFALO-FISH. One of several suckers (Catastomidæ) of the Mississippi Valley, comprised in the genus Bubalichthys or Ictiobus, and so called because of the humped outline of the back, the large head, and dark colors. The red-mouthed buffalo-fish (Ictiobus cyprinella) is brownish-olive, and reaches a length of nearly 3 feet, and a weight of 20 to 30 pounds. The big-mouthed one (Ictiobus urus) is also large and very dark, with all the fins black; while the small-mouthed (Ictiobus bubalus altus) is paler and more southerly in its habitat. The flesh is poor.
BUFFALO-GNAT. A gnat (Simulium meridionale), closely related and similar to the northern black fly (q.v.), which swarms in the valleys of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. “They rival the mosquito in their bloodthirsty tendencies,” says Howard, “and not only do they attack human beings, but poultry and domestic animals are frequently killed by them. . . . In certain seasons they multiply enormously, alight in thousands on cattle (as formerly they did on the bison), and produce death through their poisonous bites as well as from loss of blood. Unlike mosquitoes, they fly and bite in the daytime, and are often seen in large numbers flying in bright sunshine. The larvæ are aquatic, and unlike mosquitoes again, the larvæ of which live in stagnant water, Simulium larvæ frequent well-aërated and frequently swiftly running streams.” Consult: Osborn, Insects Affecting Domestic Animals (Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, 1896).
