One of the primary purposes of this blog is to “report on evolution of the Canal Society of New York, specifically collections,” to quote from the blog itself.  The collections are expanding, but more important, the collection is now mostly housed at one location, i.e., the Samuel Center, where volunteers are working hard to catalogue and touch up/enhance images ravaged by time.  

Here are some examples related to Oswego, an international port today, as it has been since the 1700s.  For nearly 200 years, it has been a terminus of New York State canals.  When the US was founded, it was the nation’s only international port not on the East Coast.

The postcard below shows Oswego at late 19th/early 20th century.  I’m wondering whether it’s a hybrid photo card, hybrid because the steam tug and other detail may have been drawn onto a photo, and here’s that card in color sans the steam tug, and another dated 1905.   A clue to the date depicted is the imposing building to the left;  the Northwestern Elevator was built there in 1867.  The vantage point is the bridge in an earlier Dispatches post.

Here the vantage point shifts to the east side of the Oswego River.  One clue to the date is the lighthouse in the middle of the river;  it was there from 1877 until 1927. 

Another clue is the vessel M. T. Co. (Montreal Transportation Co) Valencia in the foreground.  Valencia was a 178′ schooner barge built at Garden Island ON in 1888.  A schooner barge would be towed by a steamer.  She was owned by the. M. T. Co. until 1915.  It was broken up in 1926.

International traffic is also depicted on this postcard.  Unfortunately, no names are legible.

I’m hoping to enlist more contributors to this blog.  CSNY’s Samuel Center houses hundreds of  thousands of canal images and original documents begging for attention if not interpretation.