Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014, All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Old Shipping Days in Oswego by Leo J. Finn, 1972 This book furnished with the cooperation of The Oswego County Board of Supervisors PREFACE Lest we forget the colorful days of ships and shipping which made Oswego the most important American port on Lake Ontario - in its day - the author presents this volume. With the building of the Erie Canal and lateral canals - trade routes were changed from north and south, between the colonies and later the states, to east and west as the interior of the continent was opened up. In this "opening of the West", Oswego played an historic role. As the transfer point of the Oswego Canal and Lake Ontario here passed emigrants moving into the in- terior to till the soil and form cities. Soon products of their labor moved back eastward to be milled and distribu- ted throughout the more populous eastern seaboard. Man- ufactured products of the east found a ready market in the West. The means of this back and forth movement of raw materials and manufactured products was made possible by canal boatmen, lake sailors and their ships. It was a challenging period and adventuresome men and capital moved in to improve Oswego's harbor construct ships, and found industries. Here developed a thriving flour milling and starch industry which for a long time led the nation. For years the majestic sails of lake vessels floated over Oswego Harbor and the hustle of canal men, sailors, and longshoremen made a cosmopolitan mixture with others employed in the processing of wheat and corn, and the handling of lumber and steel rails. With the coming of steam a new phase of Oswego's commercial life began. Here evolved an innovation in steam propulsion - the screw propeller, the first on the Great Lakes; here developed a boiler industry, and here lingered ship construction down nearly to our day. Changing economic conditions, the advent of railroads, the shifting of sources of raw materials and changing markets brought about the decline of the shipping industry in Oswego, but remnants of its former greatness continued to survive in pictures and in local lore. In an effort to preserve for posterity the latter days of Oswego's maritime story, the author has re- searched the available materials - now scanty - and pre- sents this book in the hope that devotees of boats and ships might find pleasure in recalling the mariners of yester- year - on Ontario's waters. Oswego, New York J. Leo Finn ===========================================================================