To Cross A River: A Ferry Tale

<v Narrator>[music plays] The first marks primitive man made on his environment were the tracks of <v Narrator>his transportation. Game trails became Indian paths. <v Narrator>They were followed in what is now Arkansas by explorers from France and Spain, <v Narrator>and later by furtraders, a strange breed of men whose desire for profit was equaled <v Narrator>by a distaste for cities and civilization. <v Narrator>They fled as the first settlers came. <v Narrator>Very often, the game trails which had become Indian paths, became primitive roads. <v Narrator>More settlers came. The road stretch further. <v Narrator>But sooner or later, inevitably, there was a problem: to cross a river. <v Narrator>[music plays] The turn of the century, the map of America was marked with many hundreds

<v Narrator>of ferry crossings. They were as common as bridges. <v Narrator>As a matter of fact, they were called floating bridges. <v Narrator>The more primitive of them were a little more than long ramps powered by poles, oars, or <v Narrator>even the river current. <v Narrator>Later, the work was done with a gasoline powered motor. <v Narrator>Time passed and what the engineers called permanent fixed crossings, or bridges, <v Narrator>were built. Scores of the old ferryboat crossings today look like <v Narrator>this one. A little used lonely country road that seems to drown <v Narrator>in the water, then almost mysteriously picks up on the other side. <v Narrator>The ferry boat that linked them is gone. <v Narrator>40 years ago, there were 60 ferry crossings in Arkansas. <v Narrator>By the 1960s, there were 20. <v Narrator>In the 1970s, only 10. <v Narrator>Today, there are 7. <v Narrator>?Peel? ferry, near the Missouri line on ?Bull Shoals? <v Narrator>Lake. <v Narrator>Two crossings on Lake ?inaudible?. <v Narrator>?inaudible? Ferry on White River. <v Narrator>Point Ferry on Black River.

<v Narrator>?inaudible? Ferry on the ?inaudible? River. <v Narrator>Spring Bank Ferry on Red River. <v Narrator>Let's have a look at these last remaining Ferry crossings before it's too late. <v Narrator>And a look at the people who make them work. <v Narrator>This is Spring Bank Ferry near the little town of Doddridge, Arkansas, on the <v Narrator>treacherous, crooked Red River. <v Narrator>Once, this was a frontier. <v Narrator>Across the river was Spain, to the south France. <v Narrator>For settlers here in 1815, the business was beavers skins, sent <v Narrator>to Baltimore, Maryland, to be made into hats. <v Narrator>But there was a problem. A clue to that problem can be seen today on the bluffs above <v Narrator>the ferry. Trees almost ready to tumble into the ?current?. <v Narrator>In the year 1870, the problem to the south of here looked like this. <v Narrator>The rampaging Red River ripped entire forests from its banks, creating an ever <v Narrator>shifting log jam which at times was 100 miles long. <v Narrator>The beavers quite literally had their work cut out for them. <v Narrator>One early settler in a letter to President Thomas Jefferson called it the great raft.

<v Narrator>According to Indian legend, it was created when the world began. <v Narrator>Spanish and French explorers wrote of it as a wondrous accident of nature. <v Narrator>Repeated attempts to remove it failed. <v Narrator>Finally, after years of work, the job was completed in 1873 by Army <v Narrator>engineers. <v Narrator>Frank Cochran, like his great great grandfather before him, is a regular passenger on <v Narrator>the ferry. <v Frank Cochran>My mother used to come across here when she was a girl that would be back in the <v Frank Cochran>1900s, before 1910. She told of coming across <v Frank Cochran>the river with her mother and sister. <v Frank Cochran>And they would pass a lake between here and Bradley. <v Frank Cochran>And there were uh alligators on one side of the road <v Frank Cochran>uh in the lake, numbers of them. <v Frank Cochran>And back on the other side, the timber was so thick that in the middle of the day <v Frank Cochran>you could hear the ?owls? ?all? hollering. <v Narrator>Spring Bank Ferry is unique in yet another way. <v Narrator>Arkansas's only woman ferry pilot: Jan Herrington.

<v Jan Herrington>[ferry whirring] ?inaudible? in the water. <v Jan Herrington>I really enjoy working outside. This is a pretty spot on the regular. Well, they put a bridge in here right <v Jan Herrington>away. It would cramp my style. <v Jan Herrington>I'd never done anything like this before. <v Jan Herrington>Uh always well, after I got out of high school, I went to college a few years <v Jan Herrington>and uh and worked mostly clerical jobs and book-keeping. <v Jan Herrington>I'm gonna have to hit this kind of hard [whirring]. Let me try this one more time. <v Narrator>Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto passed a winter here and 1541. <v Narrator>Possibly, he, too, crossed here on the first of American ferries. <v Narrator>The Choctaw Log ferry made ?from?

<v Narrator>the Indians of ?inaudible?, still standing Hickory Logs latched together with <v Narrator>?inaudible? of buffalo hide. <v Narrator>According to plans of the Arkansas Highway Department, Spring Bank Ferry will be replaced <v Narrator>by a bridge in the 1990s. <v Narrator>90 miles eastward as the crow flies is Morro Bay ferry on the ?inaudible? <v Narrator>river. <v Man 1>Uh they are uh talking of putting a bridge here and that's something ya know we- <v Man 1>I don't know whether to look forward to or what uh, you know, what have you. <v Narrator>?inaudible? Hate to see it come? <v Man 1>Uh yeah. I really will 'cause it's the ?inaudible? <v Man 1>the tourist attraction to a lot of people, a lot of people drive all the way, get to come <v Man 1>by here just get to ride a ferry. <v Man 1>Oh I like ferries. Yes sir, I like ferries. Uh I like ferries much more than I do <v Man 1>bridges. Sure do. <v Narrator>This country is a paradise for hunters, fishermen and ?mosquitos?. <v Narrator>Once it was known for its hundreds of eagles and thousands of carrier pigeons. <v Narrator>They're gone as nearby the little town of Pigeon Hill. <v Narrator>In the early 1800s, this was among Arkansas's most heavily populated areas. <v Narrator>Today, it's the contrary.

<v Narrator>A stone's throw away is the home of Glenn Knickerbocker, who piloted Morro Bay Ferry a <v Narrator>half century ago. <v Glenn Knickerbocker>Well, that guy, he was uh fishin' down there. <v Glenn Knickerbocker>And he'd land his fish boat down there and load up his fish. <v Glenn Knickerbocker>You know a mule, horse they're scared of fish, uh uh scent. <v Glenn Knickerbocker>You know, they could smell that and they didn't know what it was. <v Glenn Knickerbocker>You could only get 'em up on the barge ?or nothin'?. And uh so <v Glenn Knickerbocker>we asked him not to land his boat there at that barge close to that park. <v Glenn Knickerbocker>He told him yeah he's gonna land it there. <v Glenn Knickerbocker>He says, ?inaudible? my truck and ?inaudible?. <v Glenn Knickerbocker>Get my fish out. <v Glenn Knickerbocker>So we've told him says now I've asked you not to do that. <v Glenn Knickerbocker>He tells 'em says I'll be back in the morning ?inaudible?. <v Glenn Knickerbocker>So he had his gun in his truck.

<v Glenn Knickerbocker>This fella coming down ?inaudible? a pistol. <v Glenn Knickerbocker>But he beat him to it. <v Glenn Knickerbocker>He shot him with that shotgun right there on the bank of that river. <v Narrator>Morro Bay Ferry will be replaced by a bridge in the 1990s. <v Narrator>Let's go north. <v Narrator>Arkansas is rich in contrast, and [audio skips] none is greater than that between the <v Narrator>?inaudible? country at Spring Bank and Morro Bay and the steep spring fed Ozark <v Narrator>wilderness here at Guion Ferry. <v Narrator>A short way up the hill from the ferry, the little town of Guion more than a century and <v Narrator>a half ago prospered from White River steamboat traffic and a brisk trade in Buffalo <v Narrator>hides. Early settlers had several problems. <v Narrator>Buffalo and bear ate their crops. <v Narrator>Indians across the river in what is now Stone County were warm. <v Narrator>But the worst problem was the White River itself. <v Narrator>Frequently it washed the ferry boats far downstream. <v Narrator>Today, Guion Ferry is one of those places in America where the pace of life slows down. <v Narrator>The briefcase and the stomach ulcer are not part of things here.

<v Narrator>Conversation trends more to the merits of coon dogs and good fishing. <v Narrator>On the average day, no more than 27 vehicles make the crossing. <v Narrator>Ferry pilot Bill Wallace. <v Bill Wallace>It's just a good job all the way around. You know, you like to work outside and you like <v Bill Wallace>to work around the river ?and?. <v Narrator>What's the smallest amount of passengers you have in one day? <v Bill Wallace>Uh sometimes durin' the wintertime we don't have very many uh real bad weather, a few <v Bill Wallace>times we haven't had any. Usually we'll have, oh, at least 7 or 8. <v Narrator>Sometime in the next decade Guion Ferry will be replaced by a bridge. <v Narrator>Farther up the White River, Old Shoals Lake near the Missouri Line. <v Narrator>You could add ferry boats to the growing list of endangered species because they're on <v Narrator>the way out. <v Narrator>Ten years from now in the 1990s, they might be things of the past. <v Narrator>As extinct as the dinosaur, as forgotten as the horse and buggy. <v Narrator>But if in the 1990s there is one ferry boat still working in the state, it will be this <v Narrator>one here, near the little town of Peel, Arkansas.

<v E.L. Harris>I don't think they'll ever be a bridge here for the expensive ?billing?, one is that it <v E.L. Harris>would be tremendous to cause of death ?of the channel? <v E.L. Harris>?inaudible? and all and no more traffic in this area at the present time. <v E.L. Harris>It would be a waste of money. <v E.L. Harris>Stormy weather, well, you've gotta be on your toes and uh, you know, it can be <v E.L. Harris>uh difficult to operate under those conditions. <v E.L. Harris>But job itself is rewarding because of communication with people. <v E.L. Harris>It's really uh uh outstanding. Job for that reason, if you like people, you like communicatin' with <v E.L. Harris>people. <v Narrator>800 miles of shoreline. <v Narrator>45,000 surface acres of cool, green, unpolluted, water. <v Narrator>This is wild country. Few farms, no factories on either side of the river. <v Narrator>This place is for people who like to fish. <v Narrator>30 miles downstream and a ?beeline?, Lake Norfork. <v Narrator>2 ferry crossings.

<v Narrator> <v J.T. Sisk>One oh one. One oh one. You boys got a lot of traffic today. <v J.T. Sisk>[muffled speaking on radio] You know, they had to bridge it [muffled speaking on radio]. You can't. [muffled speaking on radio] In <v J.T. Sisk>the summertime you ?inaudible? <v J.T. Sisk>keep up with the traffic. <v J.T. Sisk>And people have to wait you know 2 or 3 hours. <v Narrator>Here it's a different story. Agriculture, industry, tourism, real estate, business is <v Narrator>booming. Here at Henderson on Lake Norfork, three ferryboats work simultaneously. <v Narrator>They're the biggest, the fastest, the best, and the busiest in the state. <v Narrator>They work 24 hours around the clock nonstop. <v Narrator>And like the lake they cross, these ferry boats themselves are tourist attractions. <v Narrator>People come here from over America to fish for trout, swim in these cool, clear waters <v Narrator>and to ride the ferry.

<v Narrator>But the new bridges are practically finished at a cost of over 30 million dollars. <v Don Alley>There's been a- quite a tourist attraction, they've ferried many, many people across <v Don Alley>Norfork Lake. But uh the amount of traffic we have any more, lots <v Don Alley>of times people have to wait a couple uh hours to get across on the other side of the <v Don Alley>lake. <v Vada Sheid>Uh I've enjoyed the ferries. It's been a great thing for tourists. It's been a great <v Vada Sheid>tourist attraction. <v Vada Sheid>But the time has come, with the economy as it is, that the bridges just had <v Vada Sheid>to be. This is just something that we had to have. <v Vada Sheid>And I'm I'm real grateful that I've had the opportunity to be a part of what <v Vada Sheid>I think this will do for my area that I represent in the state legislature. <v Sherrill Curtis>The theory is really nice for tourism, and I <v Sherrill Curtis>do- you know it is nice to ride because you do meet a lot of people and everything, but <v Sherrill Curtis>as far as being sorry when the ferry leaves, and I have a lot of employees and a lot of

<v Sherrill Curtis>relatives that are employees on the ferry. <v Sherrill Curtis>But as far as being sorry whn the ferry is gone I guess no, I won't be truthfully, <v Sherrill Curtis>because uh like I said, I'll just make things so much handier for me whenever the bridge <v Sherrill Curtis>does go in. <v J.T. Barr>[motor running] I like when a ?inaudible? taxpayer ?inaudible? <v J.T. Barr>they will cut out those areas because people love the ferry, they like to ride it. <v Narrator>Over the state, these boats are sometimes called <v Narrator>ships of the Arkansas Navy because of a tough biannual inspection by the United <v Narrator>States Coast Guard. Here at Lake Norfork, today is the day. <v Officer H.P. Huffman>Yes. I'm Chief Warrant Officer Huffman. <v Officer H.P. Huffman>Uh I'm with the uh Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in St. Louis, Missouri. <v Officer H.P. Huffman>And uh we are required to inspect the passenger carrying ferries <v Officer H.P. Huffman>uh annually. And uh this uh inspection entails <v Officer H.P. Huffman>uh checking for their safety equipment, such as their life saving devices, <v Officer H.P. Huffman>uh their firefighting equipment, uh the de-watering equipment for the vessels, <v Officer H.P. Huffman>and also at the same time for the navigational regulations, uh which

<v Officer H.P. Huffman>would be the navigational lights uh and also their generator sets, <v Officer H.P. Huffman>uh machinery and such. <v Officer H.P. Huffman>Uh we also, uh in this particular case on Norfork Lake, we inspect <v Officer H.P. Huffman>the towboat uh the vessel that provides the transportation uh <v Officer H.P. Huffman>or the very barge, and uh we issue <v Officer H.P. Huffman>a safety compliance inspection for their navigational equipment <v Officer H.P. Huffman>and their life saving devices and also for their uh <v Officer H.P. Huffman>marine environmental protection devices. <v Narrator>The way things are going now, the Coast Guard will have to go back to guarding coasts. <v Narrator>In a few months, ferry boats on Lake Norfork will be gone. <v Narrator>Point Ferry on Black River near Newport, Arkansas. <v Narrator>One can see the Ozark foothills in the distance, but it's another world here. <v Narrator>Flat country, rich farms, forest covered by kudzu vines. <v Narrator>Ferry pilot Ellis Landers.

<v Ellis Landers>Well there's about <v Ellis Landers>5 things you really need to know on this ferry. When it's open, when it's closed, <v Ellis Landers>there's river rising, there's river falling, and there's fish bitin'. <v Ellis Landers>The main things that you're asked over here. <v Ellis Landers>Well it's an awful tiring, hard on your feet, workin' on this hot steel. <v Ellis Landers>It's about 10 degrees hotter here than it is anywhere else. <v Ellis Landers>You walk on it all day long. <v Ellis Landers>Most of the time in the summer it's over 100 degrees. <v Narrator>You won't be sad when the when the ferry's gone, you ?inaudible?. <v Ellis Landers>I'd like to see the bridge today. <v Ellis Landers>A lot of people like the ferry though. <v Narrator>Why? <v Ellis Landers>I guess cause there's so few of 'em. Lot of people say they'd <v Ellis Landers>be sad to see it go, but I won't. <v Narrator>Ferry boats have several enemies: high water, low water, <v Narrator>floating logs, sandbars and bridges. <v Narrator>Among these enemies, bridges are the only mortal, deadly enemy.

<v Narrator>?inaudible? Ferrys' days are numbered. In view, the bridge is on its way. <v Narrator>The stories and myths of ferryboats go back to the dawn of history. <v Narrator>The ancient Greeks believed that the dead took their last trip on a ferry and a coin <v Narrator>was placed under the tongue to the dead to pay the very ?fine?. <v Narrator>In America, for some reason, ferry crossings were known as magnets for bootleggers and <v Narrator>bandits, con men and thieves. Why? <v John Hume>The movements of the population westward in this country, of course, pushed ahead of it <v John Hume>a type of person before the agricultural settlers came in that had <v John Hume>a tendency to violence. <v John Hume>Well, these people congregated. <v John Hume>They were idlers in many instances, and they drifted to <v John Hume>the ferry crossings, which really were the population always <v John Hume>converged because that's where they had either ship on the river or got across the river <v John Hume>if they were moving somewhere else. <v John Hume>So they had time on their hands.

<v John Hume>They- it was an era, of uh horse back transportation <v John Hume>for individuals. They liked to race their horses and they usually fic- <v John Hume>picked a sandy bar or something that would make a good quarter mile track or <v John Hume>something to race ?inaudible? <v John Hume>their racing. They had taverns for their drinking places ?inaudible? <v John Hume>and because of the character of the people that had <v John Hume>no e- established home ?were? <v John Hume>in these urbanized <v John Hume>areas in a relative sense. <v John Hume>And uh for that reason, they became places of ill repute, <v John Hume>attracted uh women that had uh had to make a living <v John Hume>and they had no other way of making a living except as entertainers in these taverns. <v John Hume>?inaudible?. <v John Hume>Camp followers, in a sense. <v John Hume>Well, the swindlers that hung around water crossings were the same people that

<v John Hume>uh used to be found in the big metropolitan railroad stations. <v John Hume>The ignorant that came along, the naive and the innocent traveler, <v John Hume>these people, good, substantial people were moving on to build new homes in <v John Hume>the West, were not exposed to the metropolitan <v John Hume>um con um man. <v John Hume>They had no experience with them. <v John Hume>So they preyed on them. They knew these people usually carried gold 'cause <v John Hume>that they had sold out in their places back east. <v John Hume>They had to have gold to buy supplies along the way. <v John Hume>There was no paper currency that was universal in use then. <v John Hume>And west of the Mississippi until, oh, <v John Hume>after it was well built up in Arkansas, there was very little paper money of any kind <v John Hume>unless except those that had commerce with New Orleans or St. Louis, <v John Hume>uh which would mean larger storekeepers in the areas

<v John Hume>built up around the ferry crossing or the larger landowners <v John Hume>in the plantation country. <v John Hume>So they would [sighs] they operated in any way they could. <v John Hume>They- these people waiting to cross the ferry would <v John Hume>camp in their wagons or carry a wagon sheet or a tent and would camp <v John Hume>in the wagon or sleep in the wagon and set up a cook tent beside it. <v John Hume>There were families, usually with children there, and they were preyed on <v John Hume>by these con people. So- <v Narrator>As for the bad reputations of ferry crossings, none was worse than that of Toad Suck <v Narrator>Ferry here on the Arkansas River near Conway. <v Narrator>Here is its last trip, 12 years ago. <v Narrator>One could no more talk of ferry crossings in Arkansas without mentioning Toad Suck Ferry <v Narrator>than one could talk of San Francisco without mentioning cable cars. <v Narrator>Toad Suck. <v Narrator>One of the strangest place names on the map of America. <v Narrator>One of its former ferry pilots, Ty Marshall, tells one of the stories of how it got its

<v Narrator>name. <v Ty Marshall> [inaudible] <v Narrator>Toad Suck Ferry left its name on the bridge, the dam and the loch, which now stands where <v Narrator>it crossed. For miles around, this is called Toad Suck Country. <v Narrator>It is remembered every summer by a celebration called Toad Suck Days. <v Narrator>Poems have been written about this place. <v Narrator>Songs, the celebrated Toad Suck Symphony took its name from it. <v Narrator>[music plays] [singing] <v Narrator>Among those who revere the memory of Toad Suck Ferry and none is more fervent than Harold

<v Narrator>Stane, one of its former pilots. <v Narrator>Harold is a Baptist minister, musician and composer of the Toad Suck Ferry Blues. <v Narrator>Reverend Stane has dreams about the old days on the ferry. <v Harold Stane>Well, I loved the fairy. Uh it it was something that's grown on me from day <v Harold Stane>to day we had- we'd grown in bad storms or whatever, you know, that would be safe for <v Harold Stane>the public, which was just about all the time. <v Harold Stane>And uh it just growed on me and I felt like maybe, you know, that it was just, <v Harold Stane>so to speak, earthly talk. <v Harold Stane>Just living, almost breathing. <v Harold Stane>I'd hate to leave it, really. <v Harold Stane>Well, I did dream about it, I guess, three or four years after it was gone. <v Harold Stane>Practically not every night, but, you know, several times. <v Harold Stane>I'd say nearly average once a week, at least. <v Harold Stane>And uh and some of them were in bad times. <v Harold Stane>Some of 'em was beautiful times. I ?inaudible? down the swamps, down the streets of <v Harold Stane>Conway and Little Rock and red lights and everywhere else. <v Harold Stane>Course it was 60 foot long plus ?inaudible?.

<v Harold Stane>That was impossible. But uh uh it really <v Harold Stane>was. And they were just I just dreamed about, you know, I wanna see it again. <v Harold Stane>And some of the swamp, you know, was pretty rough time ?inaudible? <v Harold Stane>with hard water and stuff like that. <v Harold Stane>I've I've run it now, cyclone, you know, and <v Harold Stane>then smooth waters. And it's really sweet. <v Harold Stane>Uh seem like good people, you know, that would cross and I got to wait for the Lord ?lot? <v Harold Stane>on the ferry. <v Harold Stane>Uh people will listen 'cause you got 10 sometimes 30 minutes according to how <v Harold Stane>how swift the water is, you know, to get across some time it took a long time. <v Harold Stane>Some time it didn't. But people will listen and they're willing to listen and everything <v Harold Stane>you say to 'em. I got a chance. <v Harold Stane>I got my chance. And I ?inaudible? lot of people to the Lord on the ferry. <v Harold Stane>And then I got to help ?poor? people as they'd cross and I had one <v Harold Stane>?deck? hand workin' on the ?inaudible? that gave his lunch to hungry people as they'd

<v Harold Stane>cross. You know, if there was ?inaudible? <v Harold Stane>and so on. We'd give a lot of money away just to help people and people's <v Harold Stane>good to us too. In summertime that's hottest place, I guess, in the world. <v Harold Stane>It don't seem like it would be, but it is. <v Harold Stane>Uh that all the steel around. <v Harold Stane>An' an' lot of the workers that would cross to come it would always bring us back Cokes <v Harold Stane>and and cold Cokes and things like that. <v Harold Stane>So we were blessed, I guess, a lot more than we even blessed someone else and <v Harold Stane>[singing]. <v Narrator>Early <v Narrator>retirement rather than rapid advancement seems to be the lot to ferry pilots these days. <v Narrator>But what about the ferry boats themselves?

<v Narrator>What happens to them? <v Narrator>This is a salvage depot of the Arkansas Highway Department. <v Narrator>Some call it a junkyard. It is crammed with the burnt out machines of a technological <v Narrator>age. Among them, a ferry boat. <v Narrator>Or maybe the ferry ends like this one, a rusting derelict, stuck on a sandbar in <v Narrator>the Black River. As dead as the once busy little town of ?inaudible? <v Narrator>Arkansas, which flourished and died on the shore here. <v Narrator>Ferry boats have no cemetaries. <v Narrator>In the not too distant future, it's safe to say that you'll be able to drive your car <v Narrator>anywhere you wish in America without having to slow down for a ferry crossing. <v Narrator>And it's safe to say also that children will be asking a question. <v Narrator>What is a ferry boat? You'll answer. <v Narrator>Then they'll ask another question. Did you ever ride on one? <v Narrator>If you wanna say yes to that question and you've never ridden a ferry, well don't <v Narrator>wait too long to try it because soon <v Narrator>there'll be only one way to cross a river.

<v Narrator>[cars driving] [bell ringing] [network theme plays]