Boones Ferry

Boones Ferry (also Boone's Ferry) was a cable ferry which crossed the Willamette River near present day Wilsonville, Oregon from 1847 to 1954. It was part of a major land-based thoroughfare in pioneer times linking fledging Portland with the pre-territorial government at Champoeg, and later Salem. It was eventually obsoleted by the Boone Bridge on Interstate 5.

History

The ferry was built by the family of Alphonso Boone (grandson of Daniel Boone) who, in 1846, claimed convert|1000|acre|km2 cite web
url = http://www.endoftheoregontrail.org/piofam/boone.html
title = The Boone Family, emigrants of 1846
publisher = End of the Oregon Trail interpretive center
date = February, 1998
accessdate = 2007-02-11 ] on and around present day Charbonneau which was on the main road between Oregon City and present day Butteville. [The Oregon.com reference says they "homesteaded", but that was not possible until 1862. The "Land Donation Claim Act" applied to land claimed before 1850.] The family cleared a path and laid a split log roadway north to Portland and south toward Salem. The ferry was propelled by oarsmen from the nearby Tuality Indian tribe. cite web
url = http://www.oregon.com/history/hm/boones_landing.cfm
title = Boones Landing
publisher = Oregon Interactive Corp.
accessdate = 2007-07-02 ] Alphonso was adamant about operating the ferry 24 hours a day, which might have been related to a widespread illicit moonshine industry along the new road.

When word of the California gold rush reached the area in 1848, Alphonso and his sons headed south. Alphonso died either February 11850 or February 271850 [ cite web
url = http://www.boonesociety.com/articles/Alphonso%20Boone.htm
title = Alphonso Boone 1796-1850
author = Arlene Curry Buschert, great-great-granddaughter
publisher = The Boone Society, Inc.
accessdate = 2007-02-11 ] in the gold fields of a miner's disease, but his sons returned with their fortunes. Initially Alphonso, Jr. operated the ferry, but soon sold it to his brother Jesse, who operated it until his death in 1872 at the hand of a neighbor over a river access dispute. Afterward, the ferry was owned and operated by several people for a few years, before it passed to Clackamas County. By the early 1900s, the State of Oregon controlled it.

Shortly after the establishment of Boones Ferry, the community of Boones Landing was established and quickly grew. It was the precursor of Wilsonville.

The completion of the "Baldock Freeway Bridge" (now Boone Bridge) in 1954 resulted in decommissioning the ferry, which made up to 300 trips per day, carrying up to 12 autos at a time.

Many sections of the road are still in use and named "Boones Ferry Road", which closely parallels contemporary Interstate 5. cite web
url = http://www.oregon.com/history/hm/boones_ferry.cfm
title = Boones Ferry
publisher = Oregon Interactive Corp.
accessdate = 2007-07-02 ]

Today, at the end of one of the road fragments on the north shore is "Boones Ferry Park" in Wilsonville located where one terminal was; the south shore has a marina with a boat ramp in approximately the historical location of the other terminal. The ferry crossing site is about 2000 ft (600 m) west of I-5 and is visible from the southbound lanes of the Boone Bridge.

See also

* Champoeg Meetings
* Scholls, Oregon

Existing ferries across the Willamette

* Canby Ferry
* Buena Vista Ferry
* Wheatland Ferry

Historic ferries across the Willamette

* Stark Street Ferry in Portland
* Taylors Ferry in Portland

References

External links

* [http://photos.salemhistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/max&CISOPTR=4583&REC=4 Oregon Historical Society photo] The "Jesse V. Boone" crossing the Willamette River in 1939
* [http://159.121.122.41/exhibit3/e30279b.htm Oregon State Library photo] 1930s crossing