A Few Horns, A Head of Steam & We're Good!

   Only the "Horn Breeze" (12 yoke of oxen) made possible the first steam navigation of Lake Erie at Buffalo in 1818. All of the early sail and steamboats, before the construction of Buffalo Harbor, had to be towed through the Niagara River rapids into Lake Erie by oxen, to the chagrin of the steamboat captains. 

  Steam navigation in Lake Erie first started at Buffalo in 1818, before the Buffalo Harbor was built. Black Rock was then the center of shipping, and so bitter was the rivalry that Black Rock captains refused to land at Buffalo. But Buffalo had it's revenge when the steamboat came. Black rock residents built the first steamboat by special arrangements with Robert Fulton, and it was a gala day when the steamboat was launched.

Walk-In-The-Water

   In the previous November (1817) two or three capitalists had come from New York to Black Rock, and caused to be laid the keel of the first steamboat which anyone had ever attempted to build above the Great Cataract. In the spring the work was pressed forward, and on the 28th of May 1818, the new vessel was launched amid the acclamations of a host of spectators. It received the appropriate and striking name of "Walk-In-The-Water" partly because it did walk in the water, but mainly in honor of a great Wyandot chieftain who once bore that peculiar cognomen.

  The new steamer was ready for use about the middle of August, and then occurred a reproduction of La Salle's experience one hundred and thirty nine years earlier with his sailing vessel. Again and again the Walk-In-The-Water essayed to steam up the rapids into the lake and again and again it was compelled to fall back, it's engines not being strong enough for the purpose. The triumph of Black Rock was short lived. At length after several days of unavailing trials, the owners to their intense mortification were compelled to apply to Capt. Sheldon Thompson for the loan of his celebrated "Horn Breeze", that is to say a dozen yoke of Buffalo owned oxen used to drag sail-vessels up the rapids, and which the sailors had dubbed that peculiar title.

  On the 23rd of August another trial was made. The Horn-Breeze was duly attached by cable to the vessel, and steam was generated to the utmost capacity of the boilers. The stokers flung wood into the fire places, the drivers flung their whips, and with steam-power and ox-power combined the vessel moved slowly up the rapids.  Ere long the difficulty was passed, smooth water was reached, the "Horn-Breeze" was detached, and thus the Walk-In-The-Water inaugurated the second great era of lake navigation.

   Even though the first steamer could not navigate the Niagara River current, it steamed from Buffalo to Detroit in 44 hours on it's maiden voyage in 1818. Many other steamboats followed, and soon regular schedules were maintained, but none of these early boats could ascend the Niagara River on their own power. The vexed captains had to pace the deck in wrath while Buffalo's "Horn-Breeze" of 24 oxen pulled the vessels into the lake. 

   When Buffalo harbor was completed in 1821, many of the steamboat captains remained loyal to Black Rock--but they had to be towed up the river by Buffalo's oxen every time they headed for the lake! It was many years before any steamers could come up the river without the "Horn-Breeze".

  The "Walk-In-The-Water" was a cross between a steamer and a sailing craft. She carried two high masts and was fitted with a square-rigged foresail. Her new-fangled smoke stack stood between the masts amidship. Two large paddle boxes, which housed her paddle wheels, were placed exactly amidship and protruded clumsily from her deck. She was about one hundred fifty feet in overall length, with a thirty-foot beam, and had an eight-foot depth. Her gross tonnage was three hundred thirty-eight tons, could travel a steady eight or ten miles an hour, and accommodate one hundred cabin passengers, and a large number in the steerage. Her bow was as high as her stern, which was similar to the sailing ships of that time. She proudly displayed on her bow a carved figurehead of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.

    Her passenger quarters were all below deck. The women's cabins were partitioned in the forward part of the boat. The men's quarters followed. Next was the small dining room, and last the tiny smoking room, which was connected to the baggage room.

Wreck of The "Walk-In-The-Water"

   Since the steam whistle had not yet been invented, the Walk-In-The-Water proudly displayed a small cannon mounted on her forward deck. This was used to signal the ships intentions. It was always fired just before she docked to inform the people of the port of her arrival. A farewell shot was customarily fired upon her departure.
  The walk-In-The-Water after 3 successful years, was wrecked in a storm on a beach about a mile from the Old Lighthouse. After sailing a few miles out into the lake bound for Cleveland, it encountered stormy weather and strong winds which stymied it's progress. The Captain decided to return to Buffalo. It was unable to dock because of the weather and there were no lights visible to guide them in. They anchored off shore but sprung a leak and the pumps couldn't keep up. The Captain decided to up anchor and let the ship beach itself instead of sinking. All passengers and crew were rescued the next morning.
   Her furniture, equipment and machinery were salvaged, and her engine placed in the Superior, which replaced the Walk-in-the-Water, and later at least one more ship, and an engine works. It remained in working order till 1902.  Wood from the Walk-In-The-Water was used in the construction of the Lancaster Presbyterian Church in 1832.

Main and Bailey, Buffalo's First Airport

In the early part of January, 1910, a monoplane designed by Mr. A. L. Pfitzner and built at the Curtiss aeroplane factory at Hammondsport, N. Y., was completed and flown. The first successful monoplane in America. Just three months later Buffalo's Aero Club sponsored this first airplane flight in Buffalo, from the Country Club polo field at Main and Bailey, April 2nd 1910.

FOR THE FIRST TIME BUFFALO 

BEHOLDS AN AIRSHIP IN FLIGHT

Albert L. Pfitzner is Man to Inscribe Name First on Roll of Local Aviators 

 Only Few See Feat 

PFITZNER FLIES IN MACHINE INVENTED BY HIMSELF

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Ascends Three Times From Country Club Links

Third Flight Marred by Accident--Will Try Again Monday, Weather Permitting

A.L. Pfitzner's Monoplane

Courier April 3 1910   For the first time in history man has flown in Buffalo in a heavier than air machine. Albert L. Pfitzner of Hammondsport New York made three short flights over the golf links of the Country Club yesterday; two of them entirely successful and the third marred only by a slight accident in which the tires were ripped off the monoplane's wheels, and one of the wooden shafts of the forward steering gear was broken in landing. This is the aeroplane of Mr. Pfitzner's invention and make, which attracted so much attention at the recent Sportsman Show.  

Few Witnesses

  Being purely experimental and the aviator of a retiring disposition, the general public was kept in ignorance, and not more than 25 people all told were on hand at this great epoch in the Queen City's life.  Besides Mr. Phitzner himself, his mechanic and a tensely interested group of attendants of the club, caddies, gardeners and the like, there were present Ralph H. Sidway, his wife, his brother C.S. Sidway, James B. How and Dr. K. S. Eschelmann.

The Pfitzner Monoplane-Mr. Pfitzner at the Wheel

  Carefully the great black machine was trundled into place on the big field back of the club house, and the engine set going. It was a perfect morning, windless and bright--and ideal day for a flight.  The little knot of spectators gathered as close as they dared, the mechanics dodged away from the whirling propeller, and the birdman climbed into his tiny seat, resting his outstretched feet in the sling.  "There he goes!" said somebody in the little group in a strained whisper as the holders sprang back and the machine started forward along the uneven ground with a rush. Then there was dead silence save for the sound of the engine. The blades of the six foot propeller made no sound at all.  Ones first impression was of disappointment.  Was this great awkward thing bumbling over the ground like a crazy automobile, one of the graceful airships so often written about? And Then--then Mr. Pfitzner pulled the wheel toward him slightly and the miracle happened.

                                                                                                                      The Start 

The Pfitzner Flyer the First American Monoplane
to Fly. Note the Sliding Wing-tips

  The clumsy, stiff-winged nightmare slid off the earth into the air, where instantly every trace of stiffness was lost. There was a slight rustling among the rigidly standing spectators, a little start and a soft, long-drawn "Oooh!" of amazement and delight  as the uninteresting, strangely shaped contrivance of rubber and wood and wire became in a flash a thing of life, rising swiftly and with surpassing grace into it's own element.

  It is utterly impossible to gather an idea of an aeroplane from the photograph. It is the swift light movement that is so wonderful, it's truly birdlike appearance. For the monoplane is very much like a huge bird, as one sees it as motion in air.  The wings are rigid, it is true, but the movement is exactly that of a swallow or, in the case of Pfitzner's machine, of some other swallow-like bird with a long neck.  And the thundering of the motor is nearly inaudible from the ground, so the machine could almost be likened to a shadow.

  A Slight Accident

  It was on the aviators third flight, which seemed more promising than the others, that the accident occurred. He was going at a high rate of speed when he decided to descend, and struck the ground a little too hard. The aeroplane bounded off again, slued round and landed sideways, canting over slightly, tearing off the tires and snapping off a control shaft.  Mr. Pfitzner expects to have all the damage repaired by tomorrow when, if weather permits, another flight may be attempted.

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Alexander (Sandor) L. Pfitzner (August 5, 1880 – July 7, 1910) was a Hungarian engineer, inventor and aviation pioneer. After studying at the Hungarian University of Technology and serving in the Hungarian Army as an artillery officer, he emigrated to the United States, where he pursued a career as a designer of automobile and aircraft engines. Pfitzner worked for several automobile manufacturers before starting with the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. He designed and built the gasoline engine with which Curtiss won the overall speed event in 1909 Gordon Bennett Cup in Rheims, France.    
   He designed and flew this first American monoplane, the Pfitzner Flyer.  Frustrated by the efforts of the Wright Brothers' use of the courts to dominate the developing market for powered flight, Pfitzner designed his own aircraft, the Pfitzner Flyer, which avoided the Wrights' method of warping the wings to achieve a lift differential between port and starboard wings by using wing extensions (or 'compensators'). In his book "Monoplanes and Biplanes: Their Design, Construction and Operation" (1911), Grover Loaning wrote "This airplane is a distinct departure from all other monoplanes in the placing of the motor, aviator, and rudders, and in the comparatively simple and efficient method of transverse control by sliding surfaces, applied here for the first time."  In 1910 he joined the Burgess Company at Marblehead, Massachusetts, where he worked on the design of a biplane which also employed his sliding wing-tip principle. This aircraft was destroyed in a crash in 1910.
   Apparently depressed by its lack of success, he is reported to have committed suicide in July, 1910, although his body was never found. Following his death, reports spread that some of his friends had sighted him in New York City.  Although Pfitzner is no longer a household name, the May 22, 1910, edition of the New York Sun wrote "besides the Wright Brothers, the only other aviators in this country are Curtiss, Williard, Dr. Greene, Hamilton and Pfitzner".

Book available, click on words - "Flying Pioneers at Hammondsport, New York". A very brief outline of the history of "The cradle of aviation" and of the work of invention, development and demonstration of aeroplanes done there by Glenn H. Curtiss, Alexander Graham Bell, ...

Horse or Bicycle, Timing Was Everything

POLICE HELD STOP WATCHES ON BIKES IN 1890'S  

Also Checked Horses For Over-Parking

   Visions of policemen with stop watches once haunted Buffalonians who rode bicycles more than 10 miles per hour, or hitched their horses on Main street for more than 10 minutes.  And if the watch told the blue coat the bike was too fast or the horse too long in one position, the owner faced a possible $25 fine for violation of city ordinances. 

  By such rules as these, life in Buffalo was tempered in the 1890's when the Kleinhans Company distributed tiny red notebooks "the bicycle and fast-driving laws boiled down for the convenience of citizens." Among the municipal "don'ts in the list was one warning against unnecessary sounding of a bicycle bell.  It added that there was a penalty for offenders.  Other ordinances included:

By Robert Malloy

"Don't hitch or fasten your horse to any lamp post or shade tree or any box around such tree.

"Don't drive your horses faster than 8 miles an hour or swing around a corner more than 5 miles an hour.

"Don't hitch your horses on Main Street between Court and Exchange Streets, or you may pay a fine.

"Don't hitch or fasten your horse so as to obstruct any portion of any side or crosswalk.

"Don't do tricks or fancy riding without permission of Superintendent of Police.
"Don't coast inside of city limits nor ride with both hands off the handle bars.

"Don't Scorch* within limits: some policeman might be holding a stopwatch on you.
*Scorch - "speed"

Editors Choice:

A recommended website specializing in Buffalo Police History.

  "Buffalo Police Then and Now"