Note 10 — Buttrick’s Voyages, Travels, and Discoveries 1812–1819

The Black Rock ferry across the Niagara River was in existence as early as 1796, and was much used for transporting merchandise, especially salt. It owed its name to the low black rock about a hundred feet broad, from which teams entered the ferry. Passing into the control of the state in 1802, the ferry continued to run until 1824, when the harbor was destroyed and the black rock blown up in the construction of the Erie Canal. The village of Black Rock was laid out in 1804, but grew very slowly, and in 1853 was incorporated in the city of Buffalo.—Ed.