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Name: Buffalo Drydock
Owner: mickemt
 
Country: USA
Region: New York
Near: Buffalo
 
WGS84: N42° 51.961 W078° 52.105

 
Hidden: 2009-11-05
Cache type: regular,micro
Difficulty: Easy
Terrain: Easy
Environment: safe,kids,permission granted,public,free,24x7,parking,dogs,not commercial
Average rating: not enough logs to calculate
Other ratings: Handicaching
Waypoint: GE029E
 
Maps
Nearest: GPSgames  Groundspeak
Watches: mickemt
Ignores: 0
 

Description:
AKA Birthplace Of The Canadiana

A reasonably simple micro at a site near a lot of history. A "micro with a purpose"! The cache is located at a fishing access point on the Buffalo river on Ohio St. From the riverbank by the cache, if you look to your right as you face the water, you can see two steel beams placed upright on the other bank. The Buffalo Dry Dock was located between those beams and the grain elevator further downstream. The drydock was set at an angle, with the entrance next to the elevators. Also to your right, you will see what looks like a short side channel with crumbling concrete walls. This channel is all that remains of the Ohio Basin outlet in to the Buffalo River. This outlet was the furthest westward extension of the Erie canal system. The Ohio Basin was begun in 1836, and completed in 1852. Due to the lack of current, the water in the basin frequently became stagnant, and was declared a public nuisance in 1855. It was eventually filled in and is now the site of Fr. Conway Park across Ohio St. The cache can also be accessed by canoe or kayak as there is a small area where you can beach your boat. There are a few benches at the site where you can rest and watch the river flow by. Please cover the cache well. The Buffalo shipyard was started in 1808 by Nathan Bidwell. The first graving docks were dug in 1836, on a site across the Buffalo River from the intersection of Chicago Street and Ohio Street. A major client, Union Steamboat Company, invested in the yard in 1872 and bought Bidwell out in 1882, renaming the yard Union Dry Dock Company. Union sold out to the American Ship Building Company in 1899 and the yard was renamed Buffalo Dry Dock. The S.S. Canadiana, the last passenger ship to be built at Buffalo was constructed and launched from this shipyard. The Canadiana's claim to fame was as the "Crystal Beach Boat". Another semi famous ship was rebuilt at this shipyard. The "Greater Buffalo", a sidewheel excursion steamer was purchased by the US Navy in 1942 and converted by the yard in to the USS Sable (IX-81) Which was a training aircraft carrier stationed in Chicago. One of the pilots who qualified on the Sable was a 20-year-old Lieutenant, junior grade, future President George H. W. Bush. The yard was in operation until at least 1950. Currently, both of the dry docks have been filled in, and the area is being used for storage of fill material.

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