Historic ferries in Oregon are water transportferries that operated inOregon Country,Oregon Territory, and the state ofOregon, United States. They allowed people to cross bodies of water, primarily rivers such as the Willamette in theWillamette Valley and the Columbia, to transport goods, move people, and facilitate communication until permanent bridges were built for faster crossings. Early ferries were used by wagons and pedestrians, while later ones transported trains and then automobiles. Oregon still has a few automobile ferries in operation.
The first recorded ferry in Oregon was on theWillamette River near present-dayWheatland.[1] This ferry was built during 1843–1844 and operated byJesse Applegate when he occupied the formerMethodist Mission at Mission Bottom. Daniel Matheny later started theWheatland Ferry in the 1850s around the same location.[1]
TheMichel Laframboise Ferry operated on the Willamette running betweenChampoeg on the south bank and the north bank of the river.[2] The ferry operated from 1850 to 1857.[2]
Boone's Ferry was operated, starting in 1847, byAlphonso Boone, grandson ofDaniel Boone. This ferry remained in operation nearWilsonville until 1954, when a bridge was built over the Willamette near the ferry site.[3]
About 1860, a ferry began crossing the Willamette River atCorvallis.[citation needed]
Discontinued ferries inPolk andMarion County include theClaggett atIndependence, which ran until 1950.[4]Hales Ferry, nearJefferson, operated as early as 1846, and another Jefferson ferry was run byJacob S. Conser in 1848.[1]Doaks Ferry operated six miles (10 km) north ofSalem. It was established in the 1840s by Andrew Jackson Doak, and sold in 1860 to Jesse Walling, who plattedLincoln, Oregon.[1] Doaks Ferry Road is named for it. Spongs Ferry operated atSpong's Landing, now a Marion County park, on the opposite side of the river from Doaks.[5]Halls Ferry operated beginning in 1868 about six miles (10 km) south of Salem, and Halls Ferry Road still exists today.[6] 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.[6] B. F. Hall's father,Reason B. Hall, was the founder of theBuena 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".[6] It is uncertain when the ferry ceased operations. There was also a "Halls Ferry" railroad station at this locale.[6]
The ferry in Salem was started by James White in 1846.[7] White later partnered with Salem founderWilliam H. Willson.[7] Captain White died in the explosion of the steamerGazelle atCanemah on April 8, 1854.[7] At one point, his widow became the sole proprietor of the ferry until she partnered withJasper N. Matheny, whose family was involved with the ferry business at Wheatland.[7] The widow White eventually sold out to Matheny, who later formed a partnership that includedJames N. Glover, the founder ofSpokane, Washington.[7] Ownership of the ferry company changed several times—at one point, ownership included judgeReuben P. Boise—until theSecretary of State declared the company defunct in 1905.[7]
Robert Moore operated a ferry betweenLinn City andOregon City beginning in 1849, and Hugh Burns also operated a ferry around that time at Oregon City.[1]
A. & L. Coryell's ferry near the confluence of the Middle and Coast forks of the Willamette operated as early as 1847.[1]
The only Willamette ferries still in operation areWheatland,Buena Vista, andCanby.
One of the first ferries operating in what is nowPortland, Oregon, was Switzler's ferry that crossed theColumbia River in 1846 between theHudson's Bay Company'sFort 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 theMorrison Bridge in 1887, and the removal of tolls on the bridge in 1895. In 1888, the completion of a railroad bridge (the originalSteel Bridge) allowed theOregon & California Railroad to cease using theirpassenger ferry, which had begun operations in 1870, using barges to move the trains across the river.[1]
The Spokane Street Ferry, also called the Sellwood Ferry, shuttled passengers across the Willamette betweenSellwood and west Portland. The final ferry, theJohn F. Caples, was discontinued in 1925 when theSellwood Bridge opened.[8]
The last ferry service to operate in the Portland metropolitan area was the Sauvie Island Ferry, replaced in 1950 by the firstSauvie Island Bridge.[9]
Ferries crossing the Columbia included the steelKalama (laterTacoma) which transported trains betweenKalama, Washington andGoble, Oregon. Thistrain ferry was shipped in more than 50,000 parts aroundCape Horn and assembled in Portland. ThisNorthern Pacific Railroad ferry was 338 feet (103 m) long and 42 feet (13 m) wide and continued in use from 1883 until around 1910 when a railroad bridge across the river was built.[1] TheAstoria–Megler Ferry operated at the mouth of the Columbia, betweenMegler, Washington andAstoria, Oregon, until theAstoria-Megler Bridge was built in the 1960s. There was also a ferry betweenBiggs, Oregon andMaryhill, Washington.[1]
TheOregon Coast had many ferries along its length, until the 1930s, when bridges were built across the bays forU.S. Route 101. At least one, Bullards Ferry across theCoquille River, lasted until the mid-1950s, when theBullards Bridge replaced it. Other ferries operated inSouthern Oregon to allow transit toCalifornia. To the east,Brownlee's Ferry began operating across theSnake River between Oregon andIdaho in 1862.[10]Olds Ferry was founded upstream of Brownlee atFarewell Bend a year later.[10]
Ferries also operated across theTualatin River.[1] These included Scholls Ferry atScholls, operated by Peter Scholl.[11] 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 theWillamette Valley.[12] In the late 1850s, Scholl built a covered toll bridge across the river, but it was washed away in a flood.[12] A more permanent bridge came in 1870, but the crossing became less important when Taylor's Ferry opened downstream.[12] Philip Harris operated a ferry across the Tualatin atFarmington.[13]
"Indian Mary" operated a ferry across theRogue River in Southern Oregon in the late 19th century.[14]
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