The steamer, built in 1860 as a towboat, was originally named the Perez H. Fields. Onondaga was one of the largest steamships operating anywhere in the United States during the Civil War, when it was used to transport Union troops down the lake to Watkins Glen on their way to Elmira and points south.

The ship was taken out of service in 1895, and in September 1898, when it was decided to scrap it, someone had the idea to emulate the destruction of the USS Maine - the battleship that blew up in Havana’s harbor under mysterious circumstances earlier in 1898 and inflamed public sentiment against Spain during the Spanish-American War - and its owners decided to blow it up as a public spectacle.

An estimated 5,000 people lined the shore as the stripped-down hull was scuttled with the explosion of 500 pounds of dynamite and 300 pounds of blasting powder. The paddle wheel and machinery had been removed from the vessel beforehand.

The sonar imagery revealed that what remains of the wreck is essentially the outline of an open hull having the exact measurements of the steamer Onondaga. The upper structure of the ship has been completely blown away and the hull has settled into the soft bottom with only a few sections protruding 4 or 5 feet above the bottom.

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