Western New York Heritage Magazine

William J. Donovan was introduced to espionage in 196 when, at the request of the Rockefeller Foundation, he travelled to Europe at his own expense to arrange for war relief supplies and medicines to be shipped to the Poles. Stopping in England en route, he learned that a German blockade would prevent deliveries to the Polish people. Eventually Donovan flew to Belgium and joined a geam that facilitated food supplies for more than ten million Belgian refugees. It was there he first met future President Herbert Hoover, its head. However, while in England prior to going to Belgium, Donovan received espionage training from the British, including William S. Stephenson, known as Intrepid, the famous spy. In Belgium, Donovan gathered information on German supplies, troop movements and other strategic events; he was on his way to becoming a spy.

To read more of Salvatore R. Martoche's story, see page 4 of the Spring 2003 Heritage Magazine. Subscribe now!

Bidwell & Banta: Pioneer Great Lakes Shipbuilders

In June 2001 an article in The Buffalo News announced the grand opening of Buffalo Industrial Diving Company at 201 Ganson Street. The company had acquired ownership of the Buffalo Dry Dock Company property fronting the Buffalo River in the shadow of the Great Northern Elevator. Going up the river in a boat tour, at a point opposite the foot of Chicago Street and the old Harbor Inn (demolished March 2003), one can see on the south side of the water a vast vacant field that had once been the site of one of the largest ship-building centers on the Great Lakes. it was here in the first decade of the 20th century that the steamships Americana and Canadiana were built. It was here one hundred and fifty years ago that some of the largest and most luxurious wooden side-wheeled steamboats in teh world were built by the firm of Bidwell & Banta. The Palace Steamers, they were called, rivaled the best of the ocean-going steamers of the Atlantic coast in speed, length and tonnage and ornamental luxury. The side-wheeld steamers built here were part of the romance of Buffalo's role as the gateway to the west. They bore names such as:Queen City, Queen of the West, Western Metropolis, Western World and City of Buffalo. The longest of these (347 feet), if it were stood on end, would rise to the height of the observation deck atop Buffalo City Hall. And they were built of wood.

To read the rest of Joseph L. Rennie's story, see page 24 in the Spring 2003 issue. Subscribe now!

The Buffalo Harbor Ferries

The emergence of the Buffalo harbor ferries, like the famous Venetian gondolas, represents a modest but significant development in small boat design and an interesting example of the adapation of a traditional work boat to its local environment.

An article appearing in the Buffalo Evening News (June 29, 1869) provides a colorful description of the ferries which by mid-century had become a common feature of the harbor; "Our gondoliers do not glide in slim and graceful boats over golden waters, dressed in picturesque knee breeches, as you see the Venetian article pictured by Titian... But if you wish to see the Buffalo gondoliers do not look for them in pictures by the old or any other master. if you would see them life-size take a stroll any day on the docks that line our harbor. There, darting back and forth across the water, or moored at the various flights of stairs are numerous small scows or punts... Each is "manned" by a small boy, shrewd, keen and intelligent in everything pertaining to his vocation. The means of propulsion consists of a sculling oar at the stern, dexterously handled by the gondolier aforesaid."

To read more of John Montague's story, see page 38 of the Spring 2003 Heritage Magazine. Subscribe now!

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