The 1918 Niagaras, whose name was borrowed from an earlier (and later) semi-pro team, were the first Buffalo team to employ former Michigan Wolverines and Youngstown Patricians quarterback Ernest "Tommy" Hughitt; Hughitt would go on to play for the Prospects and its NFL successors through 1924 and live in Buffalo for the rest of his life. Under Hughitt's leadership, Buffalo dominated the makeshift four-team league and compiled a perfect season of five wins, a sixth game was scheduled but canceled due to it being rendered moot. Only in one game did the Niagaras give up any points at all, surrendering a single touchdown and extra point to the Buffalo Hydraulics through the entire season. Because of the travel restrictions, the Niagaras were not allowed to challenge the other teams in the nation (such as the first-place Dayton Triangles, the still- active Detroit Heralds or even Buffalo's regional rivals, the Rochester Jeffersons), leaving it unknown how the team would have fared compared to the rest of the country.
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Buffalo Niagaras in 1918, the Buffalo Prospects in 1919, Buffalo All-Americans from 1920 to 1923, Buffalo Bisons from 1924 to 1925 and in 1927 and 1929, and the Buffalo Rangers in 1926. The franchise, which was experiencing financial problems in 1928, did not participate in league play that season.
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The 1918 Buffalo Niagaras season was a top-level semi-professional football team in Buffalo, New York. The team, which was the successor to the Buffalo All-Stars (1915–1917) and predecessor to the 1919 Buffalo Prospects, was one of four teams that played in the newly created Buffalo Semi-Professional Football League. The league was created to accommodate the travel restrictions put in place because of World War I and the 1918 flu pandemic, which required a delay in the start of the season (not starting until October 27) and prevented Buffalo's teams from leaving the city. Because of the greatly fewer number of teams playing across the country in 1918, the Niagaras had greater access to the remaining players who were not in the war.
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He returned for his senior season in 1919. In additional to football, Wray also played catcher on the Penn baseball team. Professionally, Wray played for the Buffalo Niagaras, Buffalo Prospects, and Buffalo All-Americans from 1918 until 1921. In 1920 and 1921, Buffalo was a member of the National Football League (then called the American Professional Football Association).
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The club participated in two of the earliest international baseball contests in 1860. Their opponent in both games was Buffalo, New York's Niagaras; a team from that city had previously played against another club from Hamilton, the Burlingtons. The Young Canadians team lost 87–13 in the first game and 45–13 in the second.Humber, p. 112.
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Chapin's initial education came from a local school in Waterloo, and then he studied law at Buffalo as well as at Ballston Spa. He was admitted to New York's bar association in 1852, and then became a lawyer, practicing in Buffalo.Warner, p. 79. Chapin was also part of the Niagaras, the city's first semi-pro baseball club.
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The All-Stars played from 1915 to 1917 under the leadership of Eugene F. Dooley; in 1917, Dooley, along with his star player Barney Lepper, took the team on a barnstorming tour of midwestern pro football teams. In 1918, the city's teams were not allowed to play outside the area because of the 1918 flu pandemic; Dooley and Lepper discontinued the All-Stars. Shoe salesman Warren D. Patterson, at the same time as this, formed a new team known as the Buffalo Niagaras, signing former Youngstown Patricians quarterback Ernest "Tommy" Hughitt as his quarterback. As the Niagaras, the team won a citywide championship in 1918, going undefeated with a 6–0–0 record (including a forfeit), having only one touchdown scored on them in any of their six games.
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NYC also provided the Rexall Train of 1936, which toured 47 states to promote the Rexall chain of drug stores. Despite having some of the most modern steam locomotives anywhere, NYC's difficult financial position caused it to convert to more economical diesel-electric power rapidly. All lines east of Cleveland, Ohio were dieselized as of August 7, 1953. Niagaras were all retired by 1956.
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During the Battle of Lake Erie against a British squadron under Captain Robert Barclay on 10 September, Elliott commanded the brig . Perry commanded the Niagaras sister-ship, . In the center of the American line of battle, the Niagara was astern of the Caledonia which in turn was astern of the Lawrence. During the early stages of the battle, the Lawrence fought alone against several of the heaviest British ships while the Niagara was scarcely engaged.
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In a match on July 19, 1859, the Niagaras were being heavily outscored by the Star Club of Brooklyn. Creighton, who had thus far been used by the team primarily in the infield, was brought on as a substitute pitcher. Using what observers described as a "low, swift delivery," Creighton achieved uncommonly swift velocity. With the balls "rising from the ground past the shoulder to the catcher," the Star batsmen were unable to hit them effectively.
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The dreadful downdrafts that have caused more than one pilot's death held no terror for him. These Niagaras of air, pouring off the ridges, can send a plane plummeting a thousand feet in a minute, but Baker wrestled his aircraft through the turbulence like a horseman on a bronco. He had the physique of a boxer and the strength of an ox and needed both in that tempest- tossed land. Russ Baker died of a heart attack on November 15, 1958.
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Twice during the search she fouled unexploded mines and was nearly sunk. On 2 February 1941 the wreck of the Niagara was found and the salvage team started the arduous and hazardous task of retrieving the gold for HM Treasury. They had only rudimentary equipment, a viewing/diving chamber, radio, and a grab lowered from the surface. Williams and his team blasted a hole in Niagaras hull and successfully recovered 555 gold bars: more than eight tonnes and 94% of the total.
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At that point, Perry shifted his flag to Niagara and charged to break the British line of battle. Lawrence, with but 14 effective seamen, struck her colors soon after Perry crossed over to Niagara. The British were never able to take possession of her, though, because Niagara succeeded admirably in breaking the British line and raking three of their ships to port and the other four to starboard. Meanwhile, Ariel and Scorpion provided what amounted to a crossfire on the three ships to Niagaras portside.
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In the final years of steam on the New York Central, the No. 3001 and other modern Mohawks were demoted to lighter trains; due to Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad (NYC subsidiary) 2-8-4 "Berkshires" and NYC 4-8-4 Niagaras handling increasingly heavier freight and passenger trains on the system. As diesels flooded the NYC, the No. 3001 and the other steam locomotives still in service saw the end coming nearer and nearer. No. 3001 was finally retired on February 14, 1957.
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Wetherwald was born of English Quaker parents at Rockwood, Ontario, on April 26, 1857.All Poetry She was one of eleven children of Jemima Harris Balls and William Wetherald (founder/principal Rockwood Academy and later Quaker minister).New Women: Short Stories by Canadian Women, 1900-1920, University of Ottawa Press, 1991, p279 Her family then made the move to Pennsylvania where her father William became superintendent of Haverford College.Unheard Niagaras : literary reputation, genre, and the works of May Agnes Fleming, Susie Frances Harrison, and Ethelwyn Wetherald, Jennifer Chambers, Edmonton, Alta.
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Howard Emmett Lepper (February 19, 1898 - December 1, 1985)Barney Lepper's profile at Oldest Living Pro Football Players was a professional football player, as well as the manager, for the Buffalo All-Americans. Aside from playing football in Buffalo, Lepper also helped start the team in 1917, when they were called the Buffalo All-Stars, Niagaras and Prospects. All of the early press announcements regarding the Buffalo team, referred to Lepper as the team's manager. Around 1917, Lepper and Frank McNeil signed a lease for the team to play their home games at Canisius College.
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The Bills were not the first professional football team to play in Buffalo, nor was it the first NFL team in the region. Professional football had been played in Buffalo and in upstate New York since the beginning of the 20th century. In 1915, Barney Lepper's "Buffalo All-Stars" were founded; the team would later be replaced by the Niagaras in 1918, then the Prospects in 1919. The Prospects were the basis of what would become the "Buffalo All-Americans," who joined what would become the NFL in 1920.
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Wetherald had been known principally as a journalist and poet, but she also co-authored an historical romance novel An Algonquin Maiden: A Romance of the Early Days of Upper Canada with Graeme Mercer Adam in 1887.Unheard Niagaras : literary reputation, genre, and the works of May Agnes Fleming, Susie Frances Harrison, and Ethelwyn Wetherald, Jennifer Chambers, Edmonton, Alta. : University of Alberta, Dept. of English and Film Studies, 2005, p274 Her first independent publication, "The House of the Trees and Other Poems", was published in 1895 and two more books of verse were published in 1902 and 1904 ("Tangled in Stars" & "The Radiant Road").
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During their championship run, the Triangles defeated future NFL teams, the Toledo Maroons, Hammond Pros, Columbus Panhandles and Detroit Heralds. The Triangles went 8–0–0 in 1918, one of two known teams to have collected a perfect record of more than five games that year, the other being the Buffalo Niagaras, whose 6–0–0 record was collected as a result of playing only teams from Buffalo and who built their team on many of the players left out of work because of the Ohio League teams' suspension. In 1919, they followed up their championship with a season record of 4–2–1.
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In 1860, the Excelsior club made a now-famous tour around New York and large cities in surrounding states. They defeated the Champion Club of Albany, the Victory Club of Troy, the Buffalo Niagaras, and the powerful Brooklyn Atlantics. Besides establishing the tradition of ball clubs traveling long distances to compete with other clubs, the tour helped advance the game's popularity outside the New York region.Ryczek, William, "The Brooklyn Excelsiors: Baseball's First Road Gang", The National Pastime Museum, January 24, 2013 In 1860 the Excelsiors compiled a record of 19 wins and two losses, and were champions of the National Association, finishing in a draw with the Brooklyn Atlantics Club.
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NFL predecessors such as the Ohio League, New York Pro Football League and Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit had many perfect seasons. In Ohio, the Massillon Tigers (1904, 1905), Akron Indians (1909), Shelby Blues (1911), and Dayton Triangles (1918) all had perfect seasons during this era. In New York, the Buffalo Niagaras went 5–0–0 (6–0–0 including a forfeit) in a league that consisted of teams entirely from the city of Buffalo in 1918. In 1920, the Union Club of Phoenixville, located in eastern Pennsylvania, played in a league mostly consisting of local teams and earned a perfect season, claiming for itself a mythical national championship.
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Another display is the adjoining section of the Lawrence' replica that has been blasted with live ammunition from the current Niagaras own carronades at the National Guard training facility in Fort Indiantown Gap, near Harrisburg. This "live fire" exhibit of Lawrence recreates the carnage inflicted upon both ships and men during the Battle of Lake Erie and throughout the Age of Fighting Sail. Fighting Sail presents a life size upper-portion of a working mast taken directly from Niagara. This exhibit focuses on the construction of wooden sailing vessels, shipboard life, 19th Century Navy medicine, a gun deck recreation from Lawrence, building tools, knots, and more.
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The 1919 Buffalo Prospects season played in the New York Pro Football League and would go on to post a 9–1–1 record. The next year, the team would move into the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football League). The war and flu restrictions that had hampered the 1918 pro football season were no longer in place, and statewide play reopened after a one-year hiatus. Tommy Hughitt, who led the Buffalo Niagaras to a dominating championship among four semi-pro teams in Buffalo in 1918, initially left for Ohio in an attempt to revive the Youngstown Patricians; after one week, the Patricians folded, and by week 2, Hughitt was back in Buffalo, where he would spend the rest of his life.
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Only Two Mohawks out of the original 600 built have been preserved, making them the most numerous examples of New York Central steam power that were remaining to survive after all NYC's Hudsons and Niagaras were scrapped with none left for preservation. The first, #2933, is a 1929 ALCO- built L-2d and resides at the Museum of Transportation, St. Louis, Missouri while the second, #3001, is a 1940 ALCO-built L-3a at the National New York Central Railroad Museum in Elkhart, Indiana. The tenders for two other Mohawks still exist as well. The tender from 2662, a class L-1d, is currently in use behind Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad 2-8-0 34 at the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad.
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Hughitt showed the effectiveness of the Yost > system of coaching by developing a bunch of green material, a team which > staged a real 'comeback' after a bad start last year. Maine is highly > pleased with the work of Hughitt and has engaged him for this season. After experiencing a winless season in 1916, Hughitt left his coaching position in Maine and signed with the Youngstown Patricians of the Ohio League, turning professional as a player-coach. When the Patricians ceased operations due to the war and flu problems of 1918, Hughitt moved on to Buffalo Niagaras and Prospects of the Buffalo Semi-Pro Football League, returning to Youngstown in a brief and abortive attempt to relaunch the Patricians in 1919. When the Prospects joined the ranks of the APFA (later known as the National Football League) in 1920, Hughitt was retained as the centerpiece of the now-renamed Buffalo All-Americans.
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The streamlined 20th Century Limited departs Chicago's LaSalle Street Station behind a NYC Hudson locomotive, 1938 Mercury train, 1936 Steam locomotives of the NYC were optimized for speed on that flat raceway of a main line, rather than slow mountain lugging. Famous locomotives of the system included the well-known 4-6-4 Hudsons, particularly the 1937–38 J-3a's; 4-8-2 World War II–era L-3 and L-4 Mohawks; and the postwar S-class Niagaras: fast 4-8-4 locomotives often considered the epitome of their breed by steam locomotive aficionados (railfans). For two-thirds of the twentieth century the New York Central had some of the most famous trains in the United States. Its 20th Century Limited, begun in 1902, ran from Grand Central Terminal in New York to LaSalle Street Station, Chicago, and was its most famous train, known for its red carpet treatment and first class service.
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