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Page 59 THE STEAMBOAT OSWEGO by RICHARD PALMER On May 14, 1875 a reporter of the Oswego Palladium Times was hailed down by an old timer who claimed to have "known Oswego before it was weaned". It had been an unusually cold spring and residents were complaining about the weather. The old timer said he could remember a colder time in the spring of 1834. "If you have a few minutes I will tell you about a storm that spring that exceeded in violence to anything I have since seen." The reporter told him to continue his narrative as he started to take notes. "At three o'clock of the afternoon of May 12th, 1834, the new steamer Oswego which was launched some time before at this port, left Charlotte under the command of Capt. Massey, an experienced navigator from the Hudson River. The boat carried considerable light freight and a large number of passengers bound for Oswego and ports below. "As the boat was started before she was fully completed, several caulkers and carpenters were put on board to finish her while under way. The boat was staunch, well officered, with William T. Barnes of this city one of the engineers and Horatio J. Carey as customs officer. "Among the passengers were several captains ready to lend a helping hand, and William Manchester, a portrait painter of this city, and when the boat left Charlotte, both crew and passengers were in high glee, confident that the Oswego would show the snail steamers of that day such speed as had not been heard of. "About a half an hour after the steamer left Charlotte, a violent storm from the westward, accompanied with snow, sprung up, but as the boat was new and well manned, no fears were entertained. For some time after the storm burst upon her, she behaved well, and rode the waves as lightly as could be wished for. As the wind increased in violence, it became evident to Captain Massey that unless he could get more ballast into the stem, the boat could not be steered, and accordingly he ordered all hands to commence passing wood from the main deck to the stem deck. "After the wood had been put into the hold and the steamer continued to broach to, blankets were hoisted as sails to keep her off, but without avail, for she soon rounded in the trough of the sea and then some of the loftiest and grandest tumbling ever seen out side of sawdust ring was done by boat and passengers. "The waves dashed with such fury