A Busy Lakeport
— Maritime Heritage —
A Commerce Center. Though camps, pleasure boats, and the sandy beaches of Fair Haven State Park dominate the bay and lake shore today, in 1910 Little Sodus Bay was the second busiest port on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. Trains connected with barges, schooners, and steamers bringing coal and vacationers from the interior and returning dairy products, cooled with ice harvested in winter. During prohibition rumrunners unloaded their fast boats in the bay, under cover of darkness, and trucks later picked up the bottles. The steamer 'Arundell' once carried passengers between resorts around Lake Ontario. Ice was cut from the bay for domestic refrigeration, stored in many ice houses around the bay and adjacent farms, and exported by rail as far as New York City and Philadelphia to cool milk and fish. A huge coal trestle 30' high and 1500' long once stood at the end of the bay for use by railroad cars to load coal on ships. Tons of Coal Shipped 1905-1918. From books kept by John Brown, Agent for the Lehigh Valley Railroad. 1905.....94,665 Tons; 1906.....933,793; 1907.....95,789; 1908....139,820; 1909.....95,719; 1910....103,509; 1911....108,243; 1912....111,371; 1912....114,932; 1914....121,073; 1915.....40,930; 1916....147,588; 1917....147,625; 1918....145,013; Total..1,567,070 Tons Village and Bay Map from 1904 atlas. Bay Timeline1998 Recreational boating-fishing & sailing-dominates the bay. 1938 Last passenger train, railroad era ends. 1937 Coal trestle torn down. 1930 Coal trestle abandoned 1917 568 ships cleared the port. 138 tons of Ciscos (whitefish) shipped. 1908 Pleasant Beach Hotel Built. (still standing) 1898 Pearson's Hotel built. (Ontario Amusement Park) 1897 Steamer 'Arundell' licensed for freight & 800 passengers. 1891 Coal shipping peaks. Lumber and shingle importing peaks. 1880 Village of Fair Haven incorporated. 1879 Grain elevator built. Wood products chief import. 1878 Railroad trestle completed. 1873 Light Keeper's house built. (still standing) 1835-1837 Cottage Farm built. (still standing) 1805 First permanent settlement. Seaway Trail ports connected inland people and products to the Lake Ontario 'marine highway.' Seaway Trail, Inc., Corner Ray & West Main St., Sackets Harbor, NY 13685, 1-800-SEAWAY-T. This exhibit made possible by a grant from FHWA to Seaway Trail, Inc.| HM Number | HM1IFD |
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| Series | This marker is part of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail National Scenic Byway series |
| Tags | |
| Placed By | Seaway Trail, Inc |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Friday, December 19th, 2014 at 9:02pm PST -08:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 18T E 361635 N 4797311 |
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| Decimal Degrees | 43.31591667, -76.70630000 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 43° 18.955', W 76° 42.378' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 43° 18' 57.3" N, 76° 42' 22.68" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 315 |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 14447 Bell Ave, Sterling NY 13156, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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