In deep January the upper Niagara runs black and fast between shelves of ice, and Grand Island wakes to whatever the night left behind in the driveway. Babcock Development is out in that hour with the blade down, pushing drives and lots open before the first headlights start across the bridges. Snow here does not simply fall; it travels — squall after squall, an inch an hour, then abrupt sun. The work is plowing, hand-shoveling the walks where a blade cannot reach, and laying salt at the corners that glaze over first. Winter clearing for Grand Island and the surrounding Erie and Niagara county towns.