The Union Ship Canal

The Union Ship Canal came about as a collective effort of railroad, shipping, banking, and iron smelting business interests. The founders of the Buffalo and Susquehanna Iron Company (the predecessor to Hanna Furnace) controlled rail lines to Buffalo from coal fields in Pennsylvania. They also had interests in Great Lakes shipping that could suply iron ore from Michigan and Minnesota. In cooperation with the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Buffalo and Susquehanna Iron Company began construction of a canal in 1903 to connect these resources. , The canal (originally called the Goodyear Canal) began at the shore of Lake Erie and crossed Fuhrmann Boulevard, which was spanned with a Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge. In 1910, the canal was extended an additional 950 feet. In its final form, the canal was 2,240 feet long, 222 feet wide, and over 23 feet deep. , The Union Ship Canal was used for unloading the bulk cargo carriers that brought iron ore and limestone. The imported minerals were stored on the grounds of the Pennsylvania Railroad to the north, and the Hanna Furnace storage yeard to the south. , A larger boat could be unloaded in nine to sixteen hours. During the summer months, the shipment of iron ore and limestone was a continuous around-the-clock undertaking, in order to provide the furnace with the minerals for the ongoing smelting operations, as well as stockpile reserves for the winter, when the Great Lakes were frozen. , The canal was also used for loading ships that carried iron to automobile plants, steel mills, and foundaries throughout the Great Lakes and east coast. , The Union Ship Canal, circa 1910. , Buffalo Outer Harbor, 1927. Image Source: Fairchild Aerial Survey, University at Buffalo Digital Map Collection.