At the start of the twentieth century, Buffalo was a thriving industrial town and the largest grain port in the world. Much of the grain harvested in the Midwest was shipped through Buffalo Harbor where it was stored in grain silos or transferred to ships heading to cities on the East Coast and abroad. These silos, which are now largely abandoned, line the final bends of the Buffalo River before it meets Lake Erie. Silo City is a complex of abandoned silos in what has been dubbed Elevator Alley which is the densest collection of concrete grain elevators on earth.