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After the Erie Canal - What Then? Q: Where are your boating friends Chuck and Shane now? (See previous article.) After they traveled through the Erie Canal, where did they go next? A: Shane didn't know there were so many locks on the Canal! Here are some of her journal notes about the last of the locks, only to find themselves stymied in Oswego! *** Today, the locks mostly had lines to hold, with two with poles to put our line around. Chuck has gotten really good at easing up to the lock just where I need to grab on. As the lock fills, the water bubbles up and moves Sea Pride in mysterious ways. I have learned when to ease off the line, and when to hold tight. We always have to push off the bow and/or the stern to get going at the end. When we got to Lock 15, the lockmaster was actually able to have it open for us, so we did not wait. A first! As we go along, each of the locks has an adjacent dam to handle the water flow. Today the water was higher in the locks than previously. This means that our vigilance to see that the boat does not scrape the lock is more important. The fenders, which protect the boat, are now floating too high at the top to do any good at the end. We will adjust them for tomorrow's trip. Along the Mohawk, as on the Hudson, power generation is a big item. We have seen nuclear power, hydropower and gas, and many lines carrying the power away. These little towns are fun. Fonda (across from Fultonville) has a speedway. (Yes, it is the ancestral home of Henry Fonda and family.) St Johnsville has Monday night concerts. Right here at River Front Park, at the Band Shell, the L'il Country Band (photo) played for two hours. We sat on the flybridge and watched while having dinner on board. Oswego, N.Y. Bells ring from City Hall on each hour here. It is such a nice way to wake up. I read Bess Truman, while Chuck snoozed a little longer. It was windy this morning, so there was no need to rush away. Lake Ontario was supposed to be 1-3 feet chop. A local commercial fisherman went out and came right back. He said the waves were 6 feet high, too high for the Sea Pride. We'll have to wait until the surf calms down. The Public Library here in Oswego is large and looks like an armory building or at the very least a medieval castle. Chuck settled in with current papers and I got some reference materials on the history of Oswego and the County. The history of the area enhances my understanding of what I see and find here. Here is some of the pertinent information. Oswego has a population of 19,100, so is bigger than most of the towns we have visited. It is the county seat and has two well-maintained office buildings for this purpose. State University of New York has a campus here. SUNY began as a Normal School for teachers, which also offered industrial arts training. In the 18th century the early explorers (Champlain, Le Moine) came through and claimed this area for France. Even then, the water flowed slowly and the countryside was open. The Jesuits came out as missionaries, and were martyred by the Mohawks. The early years, the Native American population (Hurons, Iroquois, Onondaga) traded with the French, fought with them, and eventually drove them out. The Jesuits stayed.The bluff at the mouth of the Oswego River provided a strategic location to put a fort. Fort Ontario has guarded the river since early times.Fur trading drew in midwestern tribes who used Lake Ontario as a way to get to Oswego. The list included Patowatome, Twightwee, Mississauga, Menominee, Michilimakinac, and Chippewa (these are the source's spellings). The English took over Fort Ontario. During the Revolutionary War there was much fighting in this area. It was so cold in the winter that New York and Rhode Island troops were vanquished by the cold rather than the English. The location on Lake Ontario guaranteed Oswego had importance as a port. Upon the completion of the Oswego Canal, the traffic increased significantly. Salt from Syracuse and grain were the main goods transported in the canal. By 1920, the canal was too small for the commercial vessels carrying grain and salt production decreased and moved elsewhere. The next cargo was coal. Eventually, all commercial traffic declined by 1959 due to new highways, and freight lines. Manufacturing was textiles, especially wool, and Kingsford Starch. The tall factories lined the canal, especially the east bank. In 1943, the U.S. Office of War Information chose Oswego as the archetypical American city and staged a United Nations Week. Pages of pictures in one of the books testify to the community participation in the events. Eventually, people turned away from wool to synthetics. The Kingsford Starch plant also closed. In the 1960s, urban renewal in Oswego knocked down the old unused factories. The future appeared to be in promoting recreational boating. Oswego is now a service-based economy. New apartments, parks, hotels, marinas and services rose on the east bank, where we are docked. The permanent residents support the services we seasonal people want and need. This canny marriage of the tourists' needs (grocery, drug store, hardware, etc) with the needs of the permanent economic base seems to benefit everyone. Now annually at the end of July Oswego celebrates Harborfest, which attracts visitors from all over the area. In 1966 a nuclear power plant with three reactors was built at Nine Mile Point on the east. A conventional power plant is close to downtown. In a 1996 book, the authors said that the development of shopping plazas and fast food restaurants on the edge of town threaten the businesses on the west bank. It is five years later. While there are some vacant stores, there are still retail shops and a theater in downtown. The businesses are small and may not be regional as in the past. Two characters from the Oswego past are worth mentioning. Dr. Mary Walker, the only Acting Female Assistant Surgeon in the Civil War, and a Congressional Medal of Honor winner for her service to soldiers and citizens and her four month imprisonment in a southern prison. Mary Walker championed dress reform. Later in life she only wore pants, a swallowtail coat, and tall silk hat. She was an early supporter of women's suffrage, but later opposed the 19th amendment because she was unwilling to concede that men in Congress could decide if women could vote. Gerrit Smith, land developer, abolitionist, philanthropist, gave the money for the Public Library. As a young man he inherited various pieces of land. He bargained with his siblings to buy their shares in the land. This bold move allowed him to have $300,000 collateral for a local land purchase. When the government offered land around Fort Ontario for sale, Smith was a major purchaser (circa 1820) of what has become most of the area adjacent to the canal, site of factories and downtown. One account said he had one million dollars investment in Oswego. Think of what that would be today. The sidewalks and streets of Oswego have been busy since we have been here. We are docked between two large apartment buildings, which appear to be full. It looks to me as if this is a town that is making a determined transition to the future. Sources:
History of Oswego: 1877.
Next stops: Thousand Islands and Montreal ***
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