Buffalo River
Buffalo, New York
Downtown Buffalo - 2013 photo
Buffalo River
Length:
8 miles, beginning where Buffalo Creek and Cayuga Creek meet.
Mouth:
Eastern end of Lake Erie.
The river enters the lake between a United States Coast Guard station and the Erie Basin Marina near the head of the Niagara River.
Tributaries: - Cayuga Creek: 40 mile long creek that begins in primarily farmland/wooded areas
- Buffalo Creek: a meandering stream beginning in Java Center (Wyoming County) before it becomes the Buffalo River.
- Cazenovia Creek: East Branch of Cazenovia Creek begins in Sardina and the West Branch begins in Concord.
Purposes:
- Transportation
- Source of water
- Waste receptacle.
Importance:
- Western terminus for the Erie Canal: Entry to the River from the Canal was gained via the mouth of a small tributary, Little Buffalo Creek, which was excavated and stabilized to form the Commercial Slip leading from the Erie Canal.
- Industrial area with uses including grain elevators, steel mills and chemical production.
- Recreation.
Dredging:
The Buffalo River is a federal navigation channel maintained by the US Army Corps of Engineers at a depth of 22 feet .
The Army Corps of Engineers dredges the River and the City Ship Canal every two to three years, removing about 100,000 cubic yards of sediment. Dredging sediment is placed in a confined disposal facility located on Lake Erie near the former Bethlehem Steel facility.
Sites along the River:
- Indian village: Established on Buffalo Creek by the British in the spring of 1780 for Senecas who had fled to Fort Niagara after the Sullivan Expedition of 1779.
- Industrial Heritage Trail
- Buffalo Lighthouse
- Gallagher Beach
- General Mills Elevators and Plant
- GLF Elevator/Riverworks
- St. Mary's Cement Elevator
- DL&W / NFTA Depot and Repair Shop
- Edward M. Cotter (fireboat)
- Michigan Avenue Vertical Lift Bridge
- Buffalo River Fest Park
- Small Boat Harbor
- Tifft Nature Preserve
- Ohio Street Vertical Lift Bridge
- Standard Grain Elevator
- Electric Grain Elevator Annex
- Perot Malting Elevator
- Lake and Rail Grain Elevator
- Marine A Grain Elevator
- E&B Holmes Machinery Co.
See also: Inner Harbor
2013 photo
2011 photo.
Left: General Mills ... Michigan Avenue Bridge ... Bottom: River Fest Park dock
2013 photo ... Photo taken from the Ohio Street Lift Bridge
Left: Standard Elevator ..... Center: Edward M. Cotter fireboat ..... Right: Perot Malting Co. Elevator
"Buffalo River Urban Canoe Trail, Guide". 1994, page 6 (online Feb. 2021) ... The 32 page Guide includes history of 48 sites along the Trail.
"Buffalo River Urban Canoe Trail, Guide". 1994, page 7 (online Feb. 2021)
web site consulting by ingenious,
inc.