Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/741

OSWEGO 727 The chief productions in 1870 were 90,840 bushels of wheat, 37,714 of rye, 312,903 of In- dian corn, 540,842 of oats, 28,295 of barley, 55,752 of buckwheat, 513,263 of potatoes, 2,720,914 Ibs. of butter, 1,089,228 of cheese, 81,200 of wool, 285,169 of hops, 150,405 of flax, and 131,765 tons of hay. There were 12,057 horses, 35,820 milch cows, 16,888 oth- er cattle, 20,154 sheep, and 12,415 swine; 8 manufactories of agricultural implements, 3 of packing boxes, 38 of carriages and wagons, 39 of cheese, 21 of men's clothing, 68 of coop- erage, 3 of hosiery, 10 of iron castings, 25 of tanned and 11 of curried leather, 2 of engines and boilers, 1 of starch, 3 of woollen goods, 33 flour mills, 78 saw mills, and 3 planing mills. Capitals, Oswego and Pulaski. OSWEGO, a city, port of entry, and the capi- tal of Oswego co., New York, on the S. E. shore of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of the Oswego river, 220 m. N. W. of New York and 145 m. W. N. W. of Albany ; pop. in 1850, 12,205 ; in 1860, 16,816; in 1870, 20,910; in 1875, esti- mated by local authorities at 25,000. The river divides the city into two nearly equal parts, known as East Oswego and West Oswego, which are connected by two iron drawbridges. The water front on the lake measures about 2^ m., and on the river about 5 m. From the river the land rises in easy slopes on each side to summits about 100 ft. high, which are about a mile apart, and descends in similar slopes toward the country on either side. The lake shore consists of a bluff rising to the height of 40 to 50 ft. at the summits of the ridges which traverse the city N. and S. Oswego is one of the most handsomely located of all the lake cities, and its climate, especially in sum- mer, is not surpassed. The average summer temperature is about 67 ; winter, 24 ; an- nual, 46. The streets, laid out at right angles, are 100 ft. wide, and are ornamented with many elegant public buildings and residences. There are two public parks, one on each side of the river, which, as well as the streets in the portions occupied for residences, are beau- tifully shaded. The principal public buildings are the custom house and post office, of Cleve- land limestone, costing $120,000 ; the city hall and the county court house, of Onondaga lime- stone, the former costing $130,000 and the lat- ter $80,000 ; the state armory, of brick, with stone and iron facings ; and the public libra- ry, costing $30,000 and containing 12,000 vol- umes. There are also several elegant school buildings, two halls, four principal hotels, and various large and substantial business blocks. In 1865, during excavations in the bed of the river, a mineral spring was discovered, which was traced back into the bank of the stream. A well 100 ft. deep having been sunk, a con- stant flow of water was obtained in 1870, which is sold under the name of the Deep Rock Spring water. The chief mineral ingre- dients are the chlorides of sodium and potas- sium, with smaller proportions of carbonate of lime and chloride of magnesium. A large brick hotel, costing $200,000, was opened near the spring in 1874. The railroads entering Oswego are the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western, the New York and Oswego Midland, the Rome and Oswego, and the Lake Ontario (in progress). These with connecting roads afford communication with New York, the Pennsylvania coal region, and the principal points east and west. The Oswego canal, ^38 m. long, connects with the Erie canal at Syra- cuse. During the season of navigation a daily line of steamers runs to Chicago, stopping at intermediate points; and during the period of pleasure travel daily lines run to Toronto, Niagara Falls, the Thousand islands, and Mon- treal. The harbor consists of an area at the mouth of the river enclosed by jetties and breakwaters, with an entrance 300 ft. wide, and has about 3 m. of wharfage and a depth at low water of from 9 to 13 ft. The channel has a depth of 20 ft. at lo^ water. W. of the entrance are a lighthouse and a beacon. Fort Ontario, on the right bank of the river, com- mands the city, the harbor and its approaches, and the lake. The construction of an outer and deeper harbor, to afford a wharfage of 4 m.j was commenced by the United States gov- ernment in 1871. Of the breakwater 2,700 ft. have been built, leaving about 3,000 ft. to be constructed. The number of entrances in the foreign trade for the year ending June 30, 1874, was 2,127, tonnage 351,059 ; clearances, 2,128, tonnage 323,750 ; value of imports, $7,356,646 ; of exports, $260,876. The entrances in the coastwise trade were 728, tonnage 127,423 ; clearances, 1,279, tonnage 228,168. The ton- nage owned and registered in the district, Feb. 18, 1875, was 20,747. There are 11 grain ele- vators and storehouses, with an aggregate ca- pacity of 2,165,000 bushels, at which a large portion of the western grain crops and almost the entire barley crop of Canada are handled. The receipts of lumber from Canada are exten- sive, and the coal trade is of growing impor- tance, large shipments being made to Canada and the west. The following table exhibits the receipts of grain and lumber by lake, and of coal by canal and rail, the shipments of flour by canal and rail, and the value of receipts and shipments by canal, for three years : YEARS. Grain, bushels. Lumber, feet. Coal, tuns. Flour, bbh. Canal traffic. 1872. . . 1873. . . 1S74. . . 9,134,119 8,547,720 13,001,969 292.919,283 236,505,946 210,814,573 265,853 849,512 819,194 685,806 586,845 565,166 $22.576.984 18,711,327 18,674,078 In 1874 there were also received 47,605,053 shingles, 2,654,126 pieces of heading, 20,787,150 laths, 3,639,900 hoops, 123,325 staves, and 411,705 pickets. The Oswego river, being very constant in volume and having in the space of 12 m. a fall of 110 ft., 34 of which are within the city limits, affords extensive water power, which is made available by means of dams and