Buffalo's Oldest Firefighter, Edward M. Cotter

BUFFALO'S NEW FIRE TUG

Finest Craft of it's Kind Afloat

Launched at Elizabethport New Jersey

New York Times September 2, 1900

W.S. Grattan at it's dock on the Buffalo River near the Michigan St. Bridge

Elizabeth N. J., Sept. 1
A handsome new fire tug which has been built for the Fire Department of the City of Buffalo, was launched at Lewis Nixon's shipyard, at Elizabethport, shortly before 1 o'clock this afternoon.  She will cost $91,000 and is the Finest craft of it's kind afloat.
   Like a swan the fire boat W.S. Grattan, sped on it's initial trip from it's cradle at Nixons Ship yard, Elizabethport  NJ.  The fireboat was christened the W.S. Grattan, in honor of the Fire Commissioner. Little Miss Lucia Grattan stood at the bow and smashed a bottle of wine on the nose of the boat as it slid down the ways amid the cheering of 1,000 people, and the blowing of many whistles in the Harbor. The Fire Commissioners were all present on the stand, as was also Chief McConnel. The boat is 118 feet long and is built entirely of steel.  She is able to make over fourteen knots, and will crush ice twenty inches thick.

   It will probably take two weeks or more to make the vessel ready for the trip to Buffalo. When prepared for the voyage, the tug will be taken through the St. Lawrence River and the Welland Canal.  It is expected that the trip will take about three weeks.  As the Tug slid down the ways she was christened by Miss Lucia Virginia Malone, daughter of Fire Commissioner of Buffalo. The boat was named the W. S. Grattan, after Commissioner Grattan of Buffalo. The Buffalo Visitors came from New York on the fire tug Vigilant. The commissioners were all accompanied by their families.

The Edward M. Cotter at the Water Intake in Lake Erie

   The new fire boat is 118 feet long and is built of steel. She has an inch and a half icebelt around her hull. She can throw 18 streams fore and aft, from 350 to 550 feet.  The construction of the vessel was begun in March last.  Among those present at the launching were:  Mayor Diehl of Buffalo, John F. Malone, W.S. Grattan, and William Person, Fire Commissioners of Buffalo, and Chief B.S. McConnell and Master Mechanic David Owen of the same city. -NYTimes-

   The Grattan left New Jersey on October 20, 1900 and arrived in Buffalo to great celebration on November 6th docking at Porters Wharf. Many tests and adjustments to equipment happened over the next couple of weeks. After a test run with commissioners on board it was accepted by the Buffalo Fire Dept. on November 15, 1900 and put into service.  David Welch was Captain on board  who brought the Grattan to Buffalo. He also oversaw her construction in NJ, and then went on to pilot the vessel until the early 1920s.   He is buried at Forest Lawn.
   This is the same Fire Boat, updated several times over the years, that is now docked on the Buffalo River at the Michigan St. Lift Bridge. Renamed the Edward M. Cotter in the 1950's, it is the oldest operating Fire Boat in the world, and a National Historic Landmark.

The maiden voyage of the Firetug Grattan from NJ to Buffalo in 1900 was not without it’s trials and tribulations.  These are some excerpts from the ships Log on the Grattan during that trip.  The log relates that the Grattan left Elizabeth NJ on October 20, 1900. 

“Thursday Oct. 25— Found leak in exhaust pipe and lost half a day repairing it. 2:15 a.m.  Left pier with pilot: 3 a.m.—pilot left us: 11:10—Beaver Island. Captain, mate and pilot all full when we left Halifax but they were able to handle the craft without mishap.”

The Voyage proceeded smoothly until Monday, October 29th, which the log reported ”comes in overcast.” 6 a.m.—Pilot came aboard. Wind SW very strong. Rain. Difficult to see far. Later lights very plain but pilot has lost confidence in himself. Nearly runs us ashore. Came to anchor of Grosse Isle.”

“Tuesday, October 30 — Daybreak, anchors up. High sea and strong wind. Clearing. Reached Quebec about 10 a.m. Tied to pier in lower basin. Attend to pilot. Three crewmen, including captain and mate leave us. Re-employ steward and deck hands. New captain assumes command. 2:30 p.m.—take on 25 tons of coal. Alter engines and exhaust to run high pressure. Lay at wharf till daylight. Found no time to visit places of interest.”

The next few days passed with only a minimum of difficulty except for the notation, “firemen having trouble with the Sydney coal that we took on at Quebec.” 

The Tug reached Montreal at 10 a.m., Thursday November 1st and started to lock through the Lachine Canal two hours later. The log reads “engaged pilot at $30 and fare from Port Dalhousie to Montreal.” The rest of the voyage was uneventful until the Grattan’s arrival in Buffalo.  

She tied up at Port Colborne at 8:55 a.m., Sunday, November 4th. On the following day all hands were assigned to cleaning up the fireboat as a prelude to her arrival in Buffalo. One entry noted, “firemen hired as painters at $2 a watch.”

This was the entry regarding her arrival in Buffalo. 

“Tuesday, November 6—Six a.m. Commence cleaning again. Leave 9:30 for Buffalo. Arrive 1:30. Greatest reception ever given a boat at Buffalo. Whistling. tie up at Porter”s Wharf.”  The day after it’s arrival the log reads “discharge two firemen and deckhands. Agreed to give $2 a day and 65 cents a day per man of crew, starting with this day, and $1 for Tuesday (presumably the previous day).”

Much work still remained before the Grattan was officially presented for preview.  The following are the concluding entries before the crafts acceptance as a firetug:  

“Thursday Nov. 8— Remove Skylight. Take out condenser tank.” 

“Friday November 9—replace skylight. Reconnect exhaust pipes. Riveters from dry dock, 4 cents per rivet. Piece work because of hurry.”  

“Saturday, November 10—At work on engines, etc. in morning. Test unofficial of pumps about 5 p.m.”  The next day was an off day with the log reading “rest and see Falls. Overcast.” Monday, the Grattan was prepared for the trial.

“Tuesday, November 13— Snow and rain. Very disagreeable. Clean up ship. Report trial trip set for 

Thursday. There is no sense in this delay as we are ready now. Preliminary trial successful.”

“Wednesday, Nov. 14—Four inch valve on forward boiler broken, probably by expansion pipe. No damage done.”

“Thursday, Nov. 15— New valve bored for initial trip at 2 p.m., as promised. Trial very successful. Boat accepted at special meeting of commissioners on board. All parts of boat satisfactory. No room for complaint in any particular.” 

   In most instances, the notations from day to day were climaxed with the phrase, “so ends this day”.  So ended the initial voyage of the Grattan which lived up to all advanced notices. 

   The Grattan has since gone through two rebuilding projects and two name changes. In 1928 it was nearly destroyed in a Buffalo River oil fire but she was rebuilt two years later. Her steam boilers were changed from coal to oil burning and the boat was newly outfitted. New water towers installed near the stern and near the upper pilot house helped make the Grattan "the greatest fire fighting unit on the Great Lakes, "according to fire officials of that time.

   In 1952, the Grattan  needed repairs badly, and the city decided to rebuild her a second time, increasing her power and pumping capacity. She was taken  to Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin for the rebuilding job. In that facelifting the firetug was rebuilt except for the hull. Seven new hull plates were installed, along with an armor ice belt. New pumps nearly doubled the pumping capacity from 9,000 GPM to 16,000 GPM. The oil burning steam boilers were replaced by Diesel engines and she was converted from single to twin screw operation.
  

   A new rudder assembly, new steel deck cabins and pilot house, flying bridges and duel engine controls were added. Also installed were Fire Dept. and Coast Guard Radios, an after-tower with hydraulic lift, foam making equipment and other stream lined apparatus. It was then painted fire-engine red. It was then decided this upgraded boat should be renamed and it was re-christened the “Buffalo Firefighter.” 

  The Firefighter was soon to have another name however.  She was renamed the Edward M. Cotter in honor of firefighter Edward M. Cotter who was assigned to the Firefighter for two years before his death in 1954. Cotter was elected to 12 consecutive terms as president of Local 282, Buffalo Firefighters Assn., AFL. A firefighter for 36 years, he also was a trustee and former secretary-treasurer of the NY State Assn. of Firefighters.

SEE: Fire Fighting in the Horse Drawn Era 

and a separate Fire Fighting related Video Page

All photos property of Jerry M. Malloy - Re-use by permission only.

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The "October Surprise" of 1844

     This flood occurred October 18, 1844.  It was the most disastrous that has ever occurred since the city was founded. It came without warning, an avalanche of waters upon a sleeping community, many of whom were drowned and many of whom had narrow escapes from a similar fate.  For several days before the occurrence of the flood a strong north-east wind had been driving the water up the lake, but on the evening of the 18th a sudden shift of the wind took place, and it blew from the opposite direction with a tremendous force never before or since known to the inhabitants of Buffalo. It brought with it immense volumes of water in a tremendous wave, which overflowed the lower districts of the city and vicinity, demolishing scores of buildings, and spreading ruin along the harbor front, playing havoc with shipping, and causing an awful destruction of human life.  

October 21 and 22, 1844  

The Buffalo Morning Express and The Commercial Advertiser

Tremendous Gale!

Awful Destruction of Lives and Property

Buffalo - 1850 view from the Lighthouse

    On Friday night last the city was visited by a most tremendous gale, which, for destruction of life and property has no parallel in this part of the country. The gale commenced blowing from the southwest about 12 o'clock (midnight) and in less than half an hour the whole lower part of the city south of the canal from Black Rock to the Hydraulics was submerged in water from two to eight feet in depth. On the east side of the city the water came as high as Seneca Street below Michigan and completely covered it.  So rapid was the advance of the water that we are told by an individual residing on the other side of the creek, being awakened by the noise of the wind, and anticipating a rise in waters, hastily aroused his family, and before he could get his pantaloons on, the water was over three feet deep in the house.  

    An individual who was on Main street near the bridge represents the water as coming up in one huge wave of about four feet in depth. Houses were blown down--unroofed--cellars flooded; in fact the great amount of damage done almost instantaneously. 

"Walk-In-The-Water" Wrecked Near Lighthouse 1821

    The loss of goods to our citizens must be immense, scarcely a dealer below the Main Street bridge, or that on Commercial St., escaped without loss. The loss of goods in forwarding houses was also very large. One house alone had over twenty five tons of dry goods in store, more or less damaged and groceries a total loss. The number of buildings utterly destroyed cannot be less than one hundred...some of them large and costly structures. The amount of grain and flour damaged or destroyed is difficult to ascertain, although it must be very large, as there was a great quantity of grain in store at this time.
   The height to which the water rose was altogether unprecedented.  This may be accounted for the fact that for several days previous to the gale, a very stiff easterly wind had been blowing.  This had driven the water up the lake, or at least lessened the volume escaping by the river.  When the wind shifted to the Southwest, and blew with such fury, the water came down before it as if a dam had broken away.  It rose twenty-two feet above the level which it stood Friday evening.

    The damages and losses in steamboats and shipping is also great.  Much anxiety was felt Saturday for the fate of the steamboats, St. Louis, Fulton, Julia Palmer and the Indian Queen which left the evening previous and necessarily met the gale at it's heaviest point.  The Julia Palmer, with about 400 passengers on board, was driven helplessly down the lake into Buffalo bay about 6 o'clock Saturday morning, but when she was opposite the foot of Main street her anchors caught and held her fast, and there she rolled and pitched in a manner fearful to behold all the next day. A horse swam ashore from the Julia Palmer with a letter attached to its mane stating that they had burned all the wood and were "now burning the furniture". By Sunday morning at 8 o'clock the water had receded to a reasonable level, and she came in all hands safe. 

   The steamboat Robert Fulton, after losing two or three passengers, who were washed overboard, was piled upon the sand beach above Sturgeon point, and will be a total loss; When the St. Louis was opposite Dunkirk she broke her shaft, and when paying out into the trough of the sea, four of her passengers were swept overboard and lost. She was eventually blown into the Niagara River channel sideways at daybreak, and was rescued by a steam ferry boat and pulled her in to the foot of Ferry Street.  The Indian Queen came in about half past 1 in safety. Goods on board considerably injured. Schooner Ashland beached near Erie street, got off.  Steamer G. W. Dale was floated across Ohio street.  Steamer Bunker Hill high and dry up the creek.  Steamer Columbus driven into a pasture 200 feet from the creek. Brig Europe reached Buffalo damaged in her hull and outfit. Steamer Chautauque is ashore on her beam's end near Black Rock. Schr. J.F. Porter is on her side at the dock near Wilson's Coal Yard. The Commodore Perry came in about 12 o'clock friday night in a most shattered condition, her wheelhouse being smashed in--and the boat almost a cripple--in coming in she ran into the Great Western, after which she ran her bowspirit through the side of the Wayne, where she remained fastened.

The Wayne, Rammed by the Commodore Perry 

  Upwards of eighty canal boats went ashore between Buffalo and Black Rock. In the lower districts there were many harbor craft and canal boats left by the receding waters, many canal boats being out on the commons, on Division, Eagle and Clinton streets. South Buffalo was strewn with miscellaneous wreckage of all kinds. It is safe to say that upwards of two hundred small buildings in the lower part of the city have been entirely destroyed. There is scarcely a house in it's original position on the other side of the Creek. At the corner of Main and Ohio streets the water was six feet deep and at Michigan and Exchange streets it was five feet deep.
  The sea wall and stone pier of the harbor have been also very seriously damaged--extensive breeches have been made in the breakwater extending from the lighthouse--and large stones many tons in weight, have been carried from ten to twenty feet from their original position. The track of the Attica Buffalo railroad for a mile and a half was washed up so that the cars had to leave the Hydraulics in the afternoon--the woods on the line of the road were leveled with the ground.

Stmr. St. Louis - Pulled to Shore at Black Rock

   The most appalling part of the calamity is the loss of life.  It is impossible to get at any thing like accuracy in our estimate.  The number brought up to the court house for inquest was twenty-nine--these; with one killed and two(Mr. Havens and his boy) not taken to the courthouse make 32; to them may be added three lost on the Robert Fulton and four on the St. Louis, make 39 in all, besides several who are missing.  It is impossible to speak with any certainty of the number of lives lost.

     Ed. The papers gave a long list of people of when, where and how they were found, which I shall not repeat here.... Needless to say the suddenness of the storm and the wave of water filled up basements and first floors in a matter of minutes and in some cases, seconds, leaving no chance of escape for sleeping tenants.  At Huff's hotel, at the corner of Main and Scott streets, the water was six feet deep!  Many were just swept into the Lake.

Buffalo Harbor in More Peaceful Times

  There were other stories and probably many of them, that had happy endings. Two families in the same house went up to the second floor to be safe, but the water rose even higher and chased them to the roof. The water however pushed the house off it's foundation and floated it away.   Pretty soon the roof split into two rafts, a family on each. "The two rafts were borne safely across the Creek and over a large portion of the flats, making over a mile of the most fearful midnight voyaging that ever a man, wife and child underwent." Finally they came close enough to some houses to be dramatically rescued into the second story of a Mr. H. Gates and a neighbor Mr. Jacob Bantar, risking their own lives in the process, just before they would have fallen into Little Buffalo Creek.  Another family had a similar voyage as they desperately clung to their roof being carried by the flood waters, and landed in the Hydraulics, a mile and a half from where it stood originally. There were doubtless other instances of a like kind, and large as the loss of life has been, the guiding care of Providence was seen in the fact that so many were preserved...

     The office of Messrs. Bidwell and Banta made a similar voyage across the Big Buffalo Creek, bringing a valuable though less precious cargo; viz, their iron safe.  It was brought safely over the creek and dropped on the flats between Ohio and Elk Streets; the office thus lightened of its burden, continuing it's voyage to the Hydraulics or that vicinity.  

   The reports continued in the papers of ships sunk or damaged, harbors ripped apart and lives lost up and down Lake Erie; Cleveland, Ashtabula, Dunkirk, Erie Pa. and many others, with debris of all sorts turning up on the beaches.  "We are informed of barrel heads are coming ashore at Cattaraugus Creek" also "a white eagle supposed to be from the stern of the Schr. Pennsylvania, Capt. Barnard, have been picked up at the same place." Parts of a fore-scuttle with "Pennsylvania" in red chalk, and some broken deck planks and bulwarks" hinted at tragedies not yet discovered. According to later records 40 years hence, "At Buffalo the loss of life and property was greater than all other ports combined. The number of lives lost at Buffalo were fifty-three and those on the lake twenty-five, and eighty-eight in all."
    The Common Council set a meeting Saturday afternoon, for the purpose of devising measures for relief of sufferers of the gale. The sum of $400 was placed at their disposal.  They prepared a place of resort in the basement of the Mohawk Market where the distressed and destitute found food and a temporary asylum. The Mayor appointed twenty-five additional watchmen to protect the properties of the sufferers.  A call then went out for food, and clothing especially, because most left their homes with nothing but their night clothing on and lost everything else. "The charitable would render effectual assistance by sending old clothing of any kind to the Mohawk Market, where it will be judiciously dispensed by the committee."  As always, Buffalo citizens responded generously as they still do today.

*Editors Note: The storm illustrations above were not from the storm mentioned in this story. They are there for illustrative purposes only. There are no known illustrations of the incident in 1844.  Also the proper term for what happened is a "seiche"(pronounced saysh). Unlike a tsunami, which is caused by submarine earthquakes shifting the ocean floor, coastal landslides, or a meteor striking the ocean, a seiche is caused by air pressure and wind.  It can have the same effects as a tsunami but is slower moving.  If you get hit with one by surprise, I am sure you don't care what it is called! It's still a wall of water and your no better off either way!

   For those who will be leaving a comment below, be aware that they will not appear immediately. All comments are moderated by myself to screen out spam comments which are numerous. I check every few days so be patient, if on topic they will appear. 

Thank You - Jerry Malloy

MAILING MADE EASY

Dick's Mailer 
A Great Labor Saver, 

Invaluable to Publishers and Others

Rev. Robert Dick

   Born in 1814 in Bathgate, Scotland, Robert Dick's family immigrated to upper Canada in 1821. He became a Baptist minister, journalist, reformer, and inventor. In connection with preaching and publication of books, Mr. Dick, in 1854, commenced to publish a pamphlet in Toronto, the "Gospel Tribune," an inter-denominational Journal, the monthly editions of which soon increase to 8,000. It was in wrestling with the recalcitrant subscription list that Dick hit on the inventions that made him a fortune. Frustrated by the time required to write addresses on wrappers and to check the currency of subscriptions, he devised ways of speeding both processes. He invented an addressing machine which could fix thousands of prepared labels in an hour and act as a ledger and running record at the same time.  

    Superintending everything and helping everywhere, necessity made him groan under the burden of seemingly unavoidable blunders, the mental exactions, and the wretched slowness of the mailing work; for these, he exclaimed, "there must be mechanical relief!" As search revealed none, he then said, "it must be created!" and almost instantly he formed the conception of "Web Wheel," "Paste Fountain," "Pasting Belt," and "Label cutting and Stamping Blades." But as there could be no lessening of his editing and publishing taxation's, it took four years of his scraps of time to put his conceptions of his "Typographical Book-keeping and Mailing Machine" into patentable form. Dick moved permanently from Toronto to Buffalo, N.Y., in 1859, probably so that he could establish his patent in the United States. In later years he refined the patents for the “Union Mailer” with its ancillary processes and added patents for locking type in printers’ forms. By 1868 he claimed that over 300 papers and journals in North America used his system under patent; the 12 in Canada included the Toronto Globe and Leader. 

Dick's Seventh and Best Mailer

     Dick died of pneumonia in 1890, survived by his wife and a widowed daughter. His patents passed to his brother and business partner, Alexander, who had moved with him to Buffalo; Alexander himself made improvements to the “Matchless Mailer,” as Robert’s invention was now known, and was a patentee in his own right of the “Fairy Nest Cradle,” a suspended basket for babies which was

rocked by means of a foot treadle.
  

For Dick's 1887 Seventh Mailer and Best.
Impossible with any other: --With a Dick Mailer one man has addressed three papers in one second, 182 in a minute, 7,334 in one hour, and 45,000 in one day. No Agents, but write to the inventor, Rev. Robert Dick, Buffalo N.Y., unreservedly. With his send off, success is reached at once.

TESLA, Power to the People

TESLA'S  DREAM - 1893

   Nicola Tesla, writing of the future of Buffalo in 1893, said: "The energy of Niagara Falls is equal to 5,000,000 or possibly 6,000,000 horse power, while 4,000,000 horse power economically directed, would run all the machinery, drive every steamship, run every railroad, heat and light every store and house in the United States.  I believe that it will soon be possible to carry such energy 1,000 miles with slight loss, an that eventually it will be transmitted without any wire. I believe that in thus claiming the waste water power of the world and sending it's energy broadcast, lies the future usefulness of electrical science.  No achievement that can be thought of compares with the possibility of emancipating all that army of laborers which now toils in mine and forest to supply the nation with fuel, and the other army that is needed to transport, distribute and use it."  

.. [As a youth] I was fascinated by a description of Niagara Falls I had perused, and pictured in my imagination a big wheel run by the Falls. I told my uncle that I would go to America and carry out this scheme. Thirty years later I saw my ideas carried out at Niagara and marveled at the unfathomable mystery of the mind.”  

Power to the People, Tesla's Current Reaches Buffalo

Run by Falls Power

Street Cars Operated by the New Current

SUCCESS OF THE TRANSMISSION WAS COMPLETELY AND FULLY 

DEMONSTRATED YESTERDAY-USED ON THE MAIN 

AND EAST FERRY STREET LINES

Buffalo Express/Commercial Advertiser Nov. 19 1896

    The cars of the Buffalo Railway Company began yesterday to move by water-power. The mighty energy of Niagara Falls, harnessed to turbine wheels, and transmitted over copper wires to Buffalo, supplied the force that turned the wheels of traffic and brought nickels to the coffers of the street car company. The success of the transmission of the power was completely and fully demonstrated.

  There has not been at any time since the first dynamo began to revolve at the falls, any doubt that the energy could be brought successfully to Buffalo.  Never-the-less, the experiment was the greatest ever attempted in conveying such a volume of power to such a distance, and cautious people waited until yesterday, when the first practical application of the power in Buffalo was made, before crowing too much over the new force that is to revolutionize business and bring mills and factories and people to the Electric City.

   At 10 o'clock in the morning Niagara Falls power was turned on to the system of the Buffalo Railway Company and all the cars on Main Street between Ohio Street and Cold Spring Barns were operated by Niagara Falls Power, also the cars on East Ferry Street and Kensington Ave. 

   The test was made in this part of the city in order that the general public might have an opportunity of observing the test of running the cars by electricity generated at Niagara Falls, conveyed to Buffalo over long distance wires from the power house of the Cataract City.  In every respect the test was satisfactory. Motormen had no difficulty in running their cars smoothly and on time. There was no hitch. There were no delays. The experiment was an experiment no longer. It was a complete success. Not many of the thousands of passengers who rode through Main Street, knew the cars which they rode were propelled by power generated 26 miles away, and borrowed from the worlds mightiest cataract.

   For years the eyes of the whole world were on Niagara Falls and Buffalo.  The transportation of power from the mighty cataract to the great city at the foot of the lake was an event that called for the world-wide interest of electricians, scientists and businessmen. It meant the revolutionizing of industry.  

   Today the mighty waters of Niagara revolved the wheels of the street railway system of this city, proving beyond a doubt that the power can travel, that the wheels of factory and of mill can be turned miles away from the cataract by the power generated at Niagara Falls. It is a great day for Buffalo, a day to be made memorable by the successful test of one of the greatest electric feats known to the world. 

     There was no ceremony at the turning on of the power, but at the power house were a number of officials who closely watched the test. One of the officials of the Buffalo Railway Company, who closely observed the testing of the power as it was tried for the first time this morning, said:   "It is like the work of an expert watch maker.  Every part of the intricate mechanism of the watch must be closely inspected, every minute detail closely observed. We are regulating the mechanism and the power much as a watch-maker regulates a watch. We will let the cars run for several hours by Niagara Falls Power, observing it's action carefully, then switch it off and make use of our observations. Presently we will have everything just right and then the new power will be used continuously. Todays test has been very satisfactory. That is all that can be said at present.”

 Following the line along the river bank, for a distance of about 26 miles, the electric current travels to Buffalo. Today the people of this city have the opportunity to observe the practical and successful working of the energy generated at Niagara Falls.

The Edward Dean Adams Power Plant,  the first power plant at Niagara Falls, the ‘father’ 

of the modern electric power plant. This plant opened in 1895. Was the first big plant to 

generate and transmit current by means of Tesla Polyphase System."