Historic ferries in Oregon#Polk and Marion counties

{{see also|Steamboats of the Willamette River}}

File:Wheatland ferry - Oregon.JPG

The first recorded ferry in Oregon was on the Willamette River near present-day Wheatland.Corning, Howard M. Dictionary of Oregon History. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956. This ferry was built during 1843–1844 and operated by Jesse Applegate when he occupied the former Methodist Mission at Mission Bottom. Daniel Matheny later started the Wheatland Ferry in the 1850s around the same location.

The Michel Laframboise Ferry operated on the Willamette running between Champoeg on the south bank and the north bank of the river.Chapman, J. S. (1993). French prairie ceramics: the Harriet D. Munnick archaeological collection, circa 1820-1860 : a catalog and Northwest comparative guide. Anthropology northwest, no. 8. Corvallis, Or: Dept. of Anthropology, Oregon State University. The ferry operated from 1850 to 1857.

Boone's Ferry was operated, starting in 1847, by Alphonso Boone, grandson of Daniel Boone. This ferry remained in operation near Wilsonville until 1954, when a bridge was built over the Willamette near the ferry site.[http://www.endoftheoregontrail.org/piofam/boone.html The Boone Family.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213062137/http://www.endoftheoregontrail.org/piofam/boone.html |date=2007-02-13 }} The End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. Retrieved on 2005-02-25.

About 1860, a ferry began crossing the Willamette River at Corvallis.{{citation needed|date=March 2012}}

Discontinued ferries in Polk and Marion County include the Claggett at Independence, which ran until 1950.{{cite web |url= http://photos.salemhistory.net/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=all&CISOBOX1=&CISOFIELD1=title&CISOOP2=all&CISOBOX2=Claggett%20Ferry&CISOFIELD2=title&CISOOP3=any&CISOBOX3=&CISOFIELD3=descri&CISOOP4=none&CISOBOX4=&CISOFIELD4=audiena&CISOROOT=all |title= "Clagget Ferry" search |publisher= Salem Public Library |access-date=2008-04-07}} Hales Ferry, near Jefferson, operated as early as 1846, and another Jefferson ferry was run by Jacob S. Conser in 1848. Doaks Ferry operated six miles (10 km) north of Salem. It was established in the 1840s by Andrew Jackson Doak, and sold in 1860 to Jesse Walling, who platted Lincoln, Oregon. Doaks Ferry Road is named for it. Spongs Ferry operated at Spong's Landing, now a Marion County park, on the opposite side of the river from Doaks.{{cite web |url= http://www.co.marion.or.us/PW/Parks/descriptions/spongslanding.htm |title= Spong's Landing Park |publisher= Marion County, Oregon |access-date= 2008-04-07 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080624232033/http://www.co.marion.or.us/PW/Parks/descriptions/spongslanding.htm |archive-date= 2008-06-24 |url-status= dead }} Halls Ferry operated beginning in 1868 about six miles (10 km) south of Salem, and Halls Ferry Road still exists today.{{cite web |url= http://www.marioncountycemetery.com/hallsferry/history.php |title= Halls Ferry Cemetery: Cemetery History |access-date= 2008-04-07}} The ferry was started by Isaac (or Noah) Leabo, who sold to it Benjamin Franklin (B. F.) Hall in either 1882 or 1884, when it became known as Halls Ferry. B. F. Hall's father, Reason B. Hall, was the founder of the Buena Vista Ferry in 1852, which still operates to this day. Halls Ferry changed hands twice and was subsequently renamed, first to "Croisan's Ferry" and later to "Pettyjohn's Ferry". It is uncertain when the ferry ceased operations. There was also a "Halls Ferry" railroad station at this locale.

The ferry in Salem was started by James White in 1846.{{cite web |url= http://www.salemhistory.net/transportation/ferries.htm |title= Salem Online History: Salem's Ferries |publisher= Salem Public Library |access-date= 2008-04-07}} White later partnered with Salem founder William H. Willson. Captain White died in the explosion of the steamer Gazelle at Canemah on April 8, 1854. At one point, his widow became the sole proprietor of the ferry until she partnered with Jasper N. Matheny, whose family was involved with the ferry business at Wheatland. The widow White eventually sold out to Matheny, who later formed a partnership that included James N. Glover, the founder of Spokane, Washington. Ownership of the ferry company changed several times—at one point, ownership included judge Reuben P. Boise—until the Secretary of State declared the company defunct in 1905.

Robert Moore operated a ferry between Linn City and Oregon City beginning in 1849, and Hugh Burns also operated a ferry around that time at Oregon City.

A. & L. Coryell's ferry near the confluence of the Middle and Coast forks of the Willamette operated as early as 1847.

The only Willamette ferries still in operation are Wheatland, Buena Vista, and Canby.

Image:MorrisonBridge.jpg

One of the first ferries operating in what is now Portland, Oregon was Switzler's ferry that crossed the Columbia River in 1846 between the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver and the south bank of the river. Then in 1848, Stephen Coffin established a ferry on the Willamette using a wooden platform over canoes. The Stark Street Ferry operated from 1855 until ferry traffic declined due to the opening of the Morrison Bridge in 1887, and the removal of tolls on the bridge in 1895. In 1888, the completion of a railroad bridge (the original Steel Bridge) allowed the Oregon & California Railroad to cease using their passenger ferry, which had begun operations in 1870, using barges to move the trains across the river.

Image:1925 Sellwood Ferry.jpg The Spokane Street Ferry, also called the Sellwood Ferry, shuttled passengers across the Willamette between Sellwood and west Portland. The final ferry, the John F. Caples, was discontinued in 1925 when the Sellwood Bridge opened.{{cite web| url= http://www.sellwoodbridge.org/?p=why-is-it-needed#deficiencies | title= Why is it needed? | work= The bridge's current deficiencies are linked to the past | year= 2012 | publisher= Multnomah County | access-date=2014-11-24}}

The last ferry service to operate in the Portland metropolitan area was the Sauvie Island Ferry, replaced in 1950 by the first Sauvie Island Bridge.{{cite news|last1=Sneath|first1=Sara|title=Portland Bridge Quiz|work=Willamette Week|date=October 1, 2013|url=http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-21231-portland_bridge_quiz.html|access-date=2014-12-27}}

{{see also|Steamboats of the Columbia River|Shipwrecks of the inland Columbia River|List of steamboats on the Columbia River}}

Ferries crossing the Columbia included the steel Kalama (later Tacoma) which transported trains between Kalama, Washington and Goble, Oregon. This train ferry was shipped in more than 50,000 parts around Cape Horn and assembled in Portland. This Northern Pacific Railroad ferry was {{convert|338|ft|m}} long and {{convert|42|ft|m}} wide and continued in use from 1883 until around 1910 when a railroad bridge across the river was built. The Astoria–Megler Ferry operated at the mouth of the Columbia, between Megler, Washington and Astoria, Oregon, until the Astoria-Megler Bridge was built in the 1960s. There was also a ferry between Biggs, Oregon and Maryhill, Washington.

{{see also|Steamboats of the Oregon Coast}}

The Oregon Coast had many ferries along its length, until the 1930s, when bridges were built across the bays for U.S. Route 101. At least one, Bullards Ferry across the Coquille River, lasted until the mid-1950s, when the Bullards Bridge replaced it. Other ferries operated in Southern Oregon to allow transit to California. To the east, Brownlee's Ferry began operating across the Snake River between Oregon and Idaho in 1862.{{cite web |url= http://www.idahopower.com/pdfs/Relicensing/hellscanyon/hellspdfs/techappendices/Cultural/e04_11.pdf |title= Non-Native Exploration, Settlement, and Land Use of the Greater Hells Canyon Area, 1800s to 1950s |publisher= Idaho Power |access-date= 2012-03-06}} Olds Ferry was founded upstream of Brownlee at Farewell Bend a year later.

Ferries also operated across the Tualatin River. These included Scholls Ferry at Scholls, operated by Peter Scholl.Buan, Carolyn M. This Far-Off Sunset Land: A Pictorial History of Washington County, Oregon. Donning Company Publishers, 1999. p. 93. Scholl settled in the area in 1848, and began operating the ferry in 1850, along what was then the main route between Portland and the upper portions of the Willamette Valley.{{cite news|last1=Baron|first1=Connie|last2=Trappen|first2=Michelle|date= March 9, 2008|title=Paths linking past and present|newspaper=The Oregonian|url=http://blog.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/2008/03/paths_linking_past_and_present.html|access-date=2017-10-17}} In the late 1850s, Scholl built a covered toll bridge across the river, but it was washed away in a flood. A more permanent bridge came in 1870, but the crossing became less important when Taylor's Ferry opened downstream. Philip Harris operated a ferry across the Tualatin at Farmington.{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8fWjdr-bOVQC&q=Farmington+%22Philip+Harris%22+ferry&pg=RA2-PA478 |title= Oregon: End of the Trail |author= Work Projects Administration/Oregon State Board of Control |series= American Guide Series |year= 1940 |publisher= Binfords & Mort |location= Portland, Oregon |page= 479|isbn= 9781603540360 }}

"Indian Mary" operated a ferry across the Rogue River in Southern Oregon in the late 19th century.{{cite news|title='Indian Mary' left her mark on region's history|url=http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20130613/News/306130313|newspaper=Mail Tribune|location=Medford, Oregon|date=June 13, 2013|access-date=2017-10-17}}

• Tourist sternwheelers of Oregon
• Wahkiakum County Ferry

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/CS/BSS/history_center_ferries.shtml Historic photos of Oregon ferries] from the Oregon Department of Transportation History Center
• [http://wshs.cdmhost.com/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p4003coll17&CISOPTR=25&CISOBOX=1&REC=12 Picture of the ferry transfer station for the Kalama]{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• [http://iinet.com/~englishriver/LewisClarkColumbiaRiver/PennyPostcards/Images/PC_megler_ferry_landing_40s50s.jpg Picture of ferry land at Megler, Washington]{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• [http://photos.salemhistory.net/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/max&CISOPTR=4583&REC=4 1939 picture of Boone’s Ferry]

{{Oregon Pioneer History}}

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Category:History of transportation in Oregon