Today local educator Jay Hall talks about our grain mills. It all begins with wheat because in colonial times wheat was a staple of life world-wide. In the Midwest United States more wheat was grown and farmed. They had to export this wheat to Europe, so they had to get it to the ocean; to New York City and Philadelphia to go to Europe. Buffalo was the most eastern point on the great lakes and it still is a great spot because all the ships that came to the great lakes stopped at Buffalo and then in 1825, they started sending the grain down the Erie Canal to New York City and Philadelphia. Railroads changed everything. Beginning in the 1830’s we put grain on railroad cars because the grain elevators were invented. Robert Dunbar and Joseph Dart figured out a way to get the grain and wheat off a boat into the silos and then transfer it into railroad cars. This is why in 1865 Buffalo became the world’s largest grain port. Then the Welland Canal in Canada was built and the ships now go through the Welland Canada up through the St. Lawrence River and out to the ocean and Europe.
jayhallbuffalo@gmail.com
