1900 Map of Oswego

Further west, the jagged coastline around Little Sodus Bay and Blind Sodus Bay reveals the importance of natural harbors to local commerce and the settlement of Fairhaven. Inland, the map documents a series of rural hamlets such as Sterling Valley, Martville, and Hannibal Center, connected by the Lehigh Valley and the New York Central and Hudson River lines. The terrain is a mosaic of marshes like Mud Pond and gentle elevations such as Juniper Hill, illustrating the late-nineteenth-century transition from wild wetlands to an established agricultural and rail-oriented economy.