The effect of these two canals
was quickly perceptible in the increased activity of commerce on Lake
Erie, and the Erie Canal has rendered this lake the great line of
transit from New York to the Western States.

Lake Erie is the most shallow of all the lakes, its average depth being
only sixty or seventy feet. Owing to this shallowness the lake is
readily disturbed by the wind; and for this reason, and for its paucity
of good harbors, it has the reputation of being the most dangerous
to navigate of any of the Great Lakes. Neither are its shores as
picturesquely beautiful as those of Ontario, Huron, and Superior. Still
it is a lovely and romantic body of water, and its historic memories are
interesting and important. In this last respect all the Great Lakes are
remarkable. Some of the most picturesque and interesting chapters of our
colonial and military history have for their scenes the shores and the
waters of these vast inland seas. A host of great names--Champlain,
Frontenac, La Salle, Marquette, Perry, Tecumseh, and Harrison--has
wreathed the lakes with glory. The scene of the stirring events in which
Pontiac was the conspicuous figure is now marked on the map by such
names as Detroit, Sandusky, Green Bay, and Mackinaw. The thunder of the
battles of Lundy's Lane and the Thames was heard not far off, and the
very waters of Lake Erie were once canopied with the sulphur smoke from
the cannon of Perry's conquering fleet.

We spent two days in Buffalo, and they were days well spent. This city
is the second in size of the five Great Lake ports, being outranked only
by Chicago. Founded in 1801, it now boasts of a population of one
hundred and sixty thousand souls. The site is a plain, which, from a
point about two miles distant from the lake, slopes gently to the
water's edge. The city has a water front of two and a half miles on the
lake and of about the same extent on Niagara River. It has one of the
finest harbors on the lake. The public buildings are costly and imposing
edifices, and many of the private residences are elegant. The pride of
the city is its public park of five hundred and thirty acres, laid out
by Frederick Law Olmstead in 1870. It has the reputation of being the
healthiest city of the United States.

Buffalo was the home of Millard Fillmore, the thirteenth President of
the United States. Here the great man spent the larger part of his life.
He went there a poor youth of twenty, with four dollars in