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Chippewa at
Black Rock, Buffalo
The steamboat "Chippewa" departs
Black Rock, New York in 1825. On the left is the steamboat
"Henry Clay", built in Black Rock that same year.
At this time there was open warfare between Buffalo and Black
Rock for dominance over the Erie Canal and the lake trade.
The opposition to Buffalo was championed
by General Peter Porter, who was a national hero of the War
of 1812. General Porter's mansion dominated the village and
almost all dignitaries stayed there as a guest of the General's
before taking steamboats west.
The breakwater was constructed by General
Porter and other Black Rock merchants to give Black Rock a
deep water harbor from which vessels could gain access to
Lake Erie without having to fight the treacherously strong
current of the Niagara River on which Black Rock was located.
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