being from NYC-- i do have the tendency to see the rest of the US as well, really pretty country, but not really having any other world class cities..
buffalo, NY -- poor thing, suffers from a very bad reputation. Not all of it deserved.
Early on, water falls were used for electricity generation, and being a hop, skip and jump from niagra, buffalo was one of the first cities in US with electricity..it had more electric lights than NYC for a while..
it had its own "world fair" --and the world came! to see all the new products and services to be made with cheap electric power.
like the first few years in Australia, when the blue mountians seemed to define the edge of the world, in early US history, the appalachians created a road block to western expantion. there were very few passes.. and the one that existed, became well known, the delaware gap (NY/NJ/Pennsylvania) and the Cumberland gap
Into this, stepped De Witt Clinton.. and his great ditch..
NY state dug a 300 or so mile canal, connecting the great lakes with NYC. as sparteye pointed out, this lead to a lot of former NYers moving to Michigan.
it also put buffalo at one end of the canal.. goods moved from lake vessels to canal vessels.. buffalo became the great western port of NY-- a gateway to the west..
mind you, it doesn't hold a candle to NYC-but as it is a surprisingly cosmopolitan city..
OP
