Lumber Business of the Tonawandas
Dublin Core
Title
Description
In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). 1893 Sanborn Insurance map. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek.Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east.
The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "Murder at the Docks," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement.
As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past.
Items
Fassett, Theodore S. (1840-1908).jpg
Been in lumber trade since 1872. Major lumber dealer ("forwarder") with Fassett & Bellinger. Tonawanda Lumber Association director in 1880. Lumber…
Gratwick, Smith and Fryer Lumber Co., promotional booklet (1880).jpg
This illustrated booklet details the business of the Gratwick, Smith and Fryer Lumber Company, showing how they were able to be successful by…
William H. Gratwick vessels, photos (c.1882-1900).jpg
Wooden steam barge, bulk freighter, package freighter and tugboats. The tugboat would sink in the Niagara River on July 16, 1900, killing the two men…
42nd Separate Company of Niagara Falls, stationed in Tonawandas, photos (c.1892-1893).jpg
This company, formed in 1885 at the establishment of the Niagara Falls State Reservation, came out to the Tonawandas to protect private property twice…
Excerpts from "Fixed Bayonets - The New York State National Guard during the era of industrial unrest, 1877–1898" by Ronald Howard Kotlik, 2005.art
Webmaster's Note: This 2005 dissertation from a UB student examines the seven times the Guard were dispersed between 1877–1898 to mediate local labor…
A terrible riot, article (Niagara Falls Gazette, 1892-06-11).jpg
Weston's foreman, William Wood, has a bio in Landmarks of Niagara County (1897): Wood, W.W. — This representative citizen of North Tonawanda has been…
A. B. Williams Planing Mill, illustration (Tonawanda News, 1893).jpg
In 1893, located in Sawyer's Station area (view on map); Also a Tonawanda location at some point.
At Tonawanda, Scribner pleads with governor for protection, article (Jamestown Journal, 1893-06-22).jpg
Two years before the double murder, P. W. Scribner of the Eastern Lumber Company sends a telegram to Governor Flower on behalf of the area lumber…
Under martial law - The state of affairs in the Tonawandas, article with photos, transcription (Buffalo Morning Express, 1893-06-25)
The dispute between unionizing lumber shovers and lumber men has boiled over. Peacekeepers are billeted at the former Stephen White mansion on…
An Agreement, lumber labor trouble, article (Buffalo News, 1893-06-26).pdf
The National Guard has been stationed at the bridge to the Little Island. Via the Citizens Committee of Tonawanda, unionized lumber shovers ask that…
Lumber yards in the Main, Island and Thompson Street area, map detail (Sanborn Map Company, 1910, 1913).jpg
Ray H. Bennett facilities. George Berry. Thompson, Hubman & Fisher.
Manhattan Street, lumber yards to Tonawanda Creek and Niagara River, map detail (Sanborn Map Company, 1910, 1913).jpg
Scribner, Meyers, Dodge & Bliss lumber yards. Bond Street.
The Lumber District, postcard (1919).jpg
A view from the southern portion of a lumber-bedecked Tonawanda Island across the "Little (Niagara) River" onto a lumber-bedecked North Tonawanda.
42nd Separate Company of Niagara Falls 50th, illustrated article (Niagara Falls gazette, 1935-11-16).pdf
Article claims company organized in 1885 in response to need to enforce Niagara Falls State Reservation of that year. H. William Feder notes that the…
