The first decade of the automobile in the U.S.saw the rapid rise of the automobile enthusiast, usually a man
of some means who also possessed a necessary interest in tinkering with the machine. By 1902, the American
Automobile Association was organized in Chicago, and Buffalo's chapter was founded in 1903. Its purpose was
to push for good roads and signage, among other things, so that the automobilists could make recreational trips
into the country on Sunday afternoons.
In their annual "Automobile Route" books, the AAA described trips with particular attention to the surface of the road
and the existence of hills. Early automobiles lacked power to climb some of Western New York's dramatic country hills,
such as the Buffalo Hill seen here, west of Varysburg (Rte. 20A) . During the 1905 - 1910 period, a teenage Swedish
immigrant who lived on a farm adjacent to this hill used to harness the family's team of horses on a Sunday and drive them out
to a
spot along
the road. Before the afternoon was over, Robert Eck would have been hired to tow at least one automobile
up the hill. At $2.00 per tow, it was an easy way to pick up some much-needed cash.
The 1906 AAA Automobile Route Book sums up a detailed route from Buffalo to East Aurora by saying, "The scenery is
beautiful and there is not a good hill on the entire trip." On another trip to the southtowns, the guide warns of a hill.
"There is only one hill of any note and that is the one leaving Boston. It is about 1 3/8 miles long and has two very steep
pitches in it, and in fact can safely be called about as steep a grade as there is in Erie County."
The Premier automobile was manufactured in Indianapolis; this Buffalo distributor boasts of its power to climb the long, steep hill
outside Lewiston. But the solution to climbing hills did not rest with increased engine capacity. In 1921
chemist Thomas Midgley
invented leaded gasoline which resulted in greater acceleration, hill climbing capacity, and overall
running speed.