LAKE ONTARIO MARITIME CULTURAL LANDSCAPE PROJECT

Institute of Nautical Archaeology Sponsored Project
Ben Ford, Principal Investigator

Lake Ontario is a natural laboratory for this study due to its length of occupation, historical significance, isolation from the other Great Lakes, and degree of archaeological integrity. The area has been occupied since ~11,000 BP with uninterrupted utilization of the lake margin since water levels stabilized during the Middle Archaic Period, ~5000 BP. During the historic period, the area hosted the earliest permanent French settlement on the Great Lakes, one of the earliest British settlements in the region, and figured prominently in the French and Indian War and the War of 1812. The historically important ports of Kingston, Cape Vincent, Carleton Island, and Sackets Harbor are also situated within the immediate vicinity of the proposed survey areas. Lake Ontario has the additional benefit of being largely isolated from the other, “upper” Great Lakes first by Niagara Falls, and after 1829, by the restrictions of the Welland Canal. While the lake has supported active trade routes from the pre-Contact period to the present day, the natural barriers between it and Lake Erie, as well as the Erie Canal’s connection between the upper lakes and the Hudson River, allows Lake Ontario to be treated as a single entity without overwhelming influences from the other Great Lakes. Further, the proposed study area is one of the least disturbed portions of the lake margin. The northeast shore of Lake Ontario is protected by islands and embayments that limit the effects of erosion. Additionally, the eastern basin continues to be influenced by isostatic rebound, suggesting that many pre-Contact littoral sites in this region will be situated above the current waterline, making them easier to identify and record. This portion of the lake margin has been less developed during the 20th century, potentially leaving the majority of archaeological deposits intact.

Lake Ontario Maritime Commerce:
The North American interior east of the Rocky Mountains has three main outlets: the Mississippi River, the Hudson River, and the St. Lawrence River. These rivers form natural transportation routes linking east and west and allowing all of the states and provinces that border the Great Lakes to export their produce. Of these routes, the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes complex historically formed the most obvious east-west highway on the continent, and it was early recognized that those who controlled this route could move west farther and faster than their competitors. However, in order to take advantage of this natural thoroughfare and to drain the raw materials from the surrounding lands, it was necessary to construct vessels suitable for the lakes. To that end, the Iroquois, Huron, French, British, Canadians, and Americans have built vessels specifically adapted to the rigors and requirements of Great Lakes travel. These craft changed with time and the development of the Prescott-Ogdensburg ferry succinctly summarizes the fundamental changes in lake transportation after European contact. The ferry began in 1775 as a sail-ferry, which was replaced in 1815 by a horse-powered vessel, only to be supplanted by a steamer in 1832. The ferry was finally superseded by a bridge in 1960 as automobile travel largely replaced lake travel. Cargo vessels on the Lakes followed a similar developmental trajectory but were also shaped by the cargos they transported and the constant demand to carry the maximum amount of freight within the constraints of “nature, navigation, and economics.” Lake Ontario, as the easternmost lake, figures prominently in the early European history of the Great Lakes and was the toehold from which European nations launched their westward expansion. However, the lake’s isolation due to the change in elevation across the Niagara Peninsula eventually limited its economic development and left Lake Ontario as the poor relation of the Great Lakes.

As the easternmost of the Great Lakes, Lake Ontario figured prominently in the political and economic development of North America. The fact that the centers of commerce quickly moved farther west, commercially marginalizing the lake, does not detract from its important role in the development of several modes of lake transportation such as steam and propeller propulsion. Furthermore, Lake Ontario is interesting because of the roles played by environment, economics, and technology in the development of lake shipping. The physical environment can be considered a constant since it did not change appreciably during the period after European contact and because lake adapted vessels were fully formed by the early years of the 19th century. Thereafter, nearly all changes to ship design resulted from the interplay between technology and economics. A review of Lake Ontario history demonstrates that economics was the primary driver of change in lake vessels and when technology was involved it was often land based. The advent of steam propulsion is a perfect example of the slow adoption of a new technology only when its financial benefits were shown to outweigh the costs of transition. Very few ship-owners scrapped their sailing fleet and immediately ordered steamers. Rather, they slowly replaced worn out ships with steamboats and only in trades where the added expense of men and fuel to operate a steamer was justified by increased profits from delivering cargo and passengers quickly and on a schedule. The introduction of steam and steel cargo ships certainly allowed for larger and more efficient vessels, but on Lake Ontario the size of vessels was dictated their ability to reach markets beyond the lake. Consequently, no vessel that was designed for trade with London, New York, or Chicago could exceed the dimensions of the Welland and St. Lawrence canals. Until the modern period, these canals were the limiting factor on Lake Ontario ship dimensions. Thus, changes to ships were driven more by terrestrial technology than maritime. Lake Ontario is a microcosm of the transitions from native craft to sailing vessels to steamboats to rail lines and ultimately to automobiles and tractor trailers that was witnessed throughout North America. However, the lake demonstrates that the causes behind these transitions were not as unilinear and easily defined as is often believed.

Additional Updates forthcoming.