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city, miles, onondaga, york, streets, rochester and lines
SYRACUSE, sIr-a-ktis, N. Y., city and county-seat of Onondaga County, situated on the New York Central and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroads, almost ex actly midway between Albany and Buffalo, 148 miles either way, in lat. 43° 9' W. The New York State Barge Canal reaches it, through Onondaga Lake.
The city is at the foot of the Onondaga Valley, through which and the city the Onondaga Creek flows into a lake of the same name north of the city, five miles long and one and one-half miles wide. The southern part is flanked by hills at the northern ends of the ranges on the east and west of the valley and extending considerable distance southward; while the northern part is upon ground which slopes upward from the Erie Canal to the northern boundary. There are several hills of volcanic formation and of geological interest. A considerable part of the city is situated upon silt brought down from the Onondaga Valley, to a depth at one point of at least 179 feet, as proved when at that depth a salt drill passed through a cedar log. Perhaps there is no sec tion of the State of New York which possesses more of geological interest than Syracuse and Onondaga County, and this is certainly true of their Indian history. The streets are generally regularly laid out, though some of the prin cipal streets have independent courses creating triangular divisions of blocks. Many are 99 feet in width, but the majority are 66 feet. There are 570' streets, with a total length of 250 miles. There are nearly 114 miles of paved streets, mainly with brick and asphalt, and 209 miles of sewers. The area of the city is 19.18 square miles, Syracuse is in import ant railroad point, its roads being to its centre like the spokes of a wheel to the hub. Pas senger trains to the number of 100 arrive in and depart from the city daily. Abundant freight facilities are offered by competing lines and important advantages can also be had from the improved New York State waterways. Diverging from the city are the following rail roads: New York Central, West Shore, and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western. These roads not only thread some 20 counties in cen tral New York, but several of them extend, with their connections, to the extremes of east, west, north and south. Of street railways, the
trolley system embraces 95.72 miles of single track. This includes the mileage of track within the city of Syracuse, also to East Syra cuse and Minoa, Eastwood, Liverpool, Solvay and Rockwell Springs. The New York State Railways operate to Utica and intermediate points; the Empire United Railways to Oswego and intermediate points; the Rochester and Syracuse to Rochester and points beyond, such as Buffalo and Lockport. All these lines carry freight and express. Motor truck lines operate from Syracuse to Utica, Watertown, Oswego, Auburn, Cortland and Rochester.
Commerce and Syracuse ranks fourth among the cities of the State in the num ber and variety of its manufacturing plants; there are 760 Industrial establishments, with an approximate invested capital of $63,957,000, and an annual production valued at $52,22E4000, employing 25,000 persons. The manufacture of typewriting machines has taken on large pro portions, the combined interests representing at least $8,000,000 in popular value. The product is large and constantly increasing. Au tomobiles are produced in large numbers, and among other manufactured articles are soda ash, tool steel, candles, automobile gears, farm ing implements, tools, clothing, chinaware, furniture, cement, chemicals, mining machinery, etc. The former leading manufacture of salt is still carried on at the brine springs on the shores of Onondaga Lake, and the extensive chemical works of the Solvay Process Company employing 5,000 hands are in a western suburb. (See History in this article). The printing industry is also extensive, more than 60 news papers and periodicals being published, several of them devoted to the arts and sciences. The wholesale trade supplies hundreds of small dealers in the surrounding country in a radius of many miles. The retail trade involves an area of 38 mile radius and conservatively speak ing brings 5,000 shoppers to the city each week.