Hand-pulled ferries across the Sabine and Rio Grande

Los Ebanos Ferry

At certain places on the Sabine River, I try to keep an eye out for evidence of the ferries that once allowed people (and wagons and livestock) to cross the river before bridges became an option.

If the water in the Sabine wasn’t so brown and murky, you could probably locate some of the old ferries decaying on the riverbed, where they sank after being abandoned in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I heard about them from my friend and collaborator Jacob Botter, whose ancestors operated a ferry at the end of what is now Waldons Ferry Road, a dirt trail in rural Harrison County. His great-great-great-great-grandpa (give or take a great or two) ran a rope from one side of the river to the other and used the rope to pull himself across whenever a paying customer wanted passage.

I’m not sure when that ferry ceased to exist, but Gaines Ferry, the last ferry on the Sabine River, operated until 1937. It transported travelers along the old Camino Real, where Texas Highway 21 meets Louisiana Highway 6. The ferry was replaced by a bridge, which was inundated by the creation of Toledo Bend Reservoir a little more than half a century ago.

I was reminded of the Sabine River ferries when my friend Sean Kimmons shared photos from his recent crossing of the Rio Grande. Sean and his parents loaded their car onto a ferry in Los Ebanos, Texas, and were pulled across the river by a team of men tugging a rope stretched from one bank to the other.

11045840_10152737844064639_8285343147670787036_n
Photo by Sean Kimmons
988896_10152737843829639_2848637590997078739_n
Photo by Sean Kimmons
1505130_10152737843979639_4919310892235105657_n
Photo by Sean Kimmons

 

According to the Texas Department of Transportation, the Los Ebanos Ferry is the only remaining hand-pulled ferry on the Texas-Mexico border.

The Los Ebanos Ferry is a popular tourist attraction since it is the only remaining hand-pulled ferry on the U.S.-Mexico border. It can accommodate only three cars and 12 pedestrians at one time.

The crossing is also known locally as Los Ebanos-San Miguel Camargo, Ferry Gustavo Díaz Ordaz and Ferry Díaz Ordaz-Los Ebanos.

Although the crossing has been in operation since the 1950s, the current ferry has been operating since 1979. It was recognized with a state historical marker in 1975.

And here’s a photo of a Sabine River ferry taken in 1916.

sabtnferry

 

Here’s a random video that shows how the Los Ebanos Ferry works.


22,082 responses to “Hand-pulled ferries across the Sabine and Rio Grande”

  1. great submit, very informative. I’m wondering why the opposite specialists of this sector don’t notice this. You must proceed your writing. I am confident, you have a great readers’ base already!|

  2. My coder is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the costs. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type on numerous websites for about a year and am concerned about switching to another platform. I have heard fantastic things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can import all my wordpress posts into it? Any kind of help would be really appreciated!|

  3. Heya i’m for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It really useful & it helped me out much. I hope to give something back and help others like you aided me.|

  4. Good post. I learn something totally new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon on a daily basis. It will always be exciting to read through articles from other writers and practice a little something from other web sites. |

  5. It is appropriate time to make a few plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I have learn this submit and if I may I wish to recommend you some interesting things or tips. Maybe you could write subsequent articles regarding this article. I want to learn even more things approximately it!|

  6. Hi there I am so glad I found your weblog,
    I really found you by mistake, while I was looking on Bing
    for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say
    thanks for a tremendous post and a all round
    interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have
    time to read it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also included your RSS
    feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the great job.

  7. I’m not sure exactly why but this weblog is loading extremely slow for me. Is anyone else having this problem or is it a problem on my end? I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.|

  8. Hey very cool site!! Guy .. Excellent .. Superb .. I will bookmark your website and take the feeds also? I am glad to seek out so many helpful information right here in the publish, we need develop more strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .|

  9. I have been exploring for a little for any high quality articles or weblog posts on this sort of house . Exploring in Yahoo I ultimately stumbled upon this web site. Reading this info So i’m satisfied to show that I’ve a very good uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I most unquestionably will make sure to do not forget this website and give it a glance regularly.|

  10. This is the perfect blog for anybody who really wants to find out
    about this topic. You know a whole lot its almost hard to
    argue with you (not that I really will need to…HaHa).
    You certainly put a new spin on a subject that’s
    been written about for many years. Wonderful stuff, just wonderful!

  11. Howdy, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam comments? If so how do you prevent it, any plugin or anything you can advise? I get so much lately it’s driving me mad so any help is very much appreciated.|

  12. Heya i am for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It really useful & it helped me out much. I hope to give something back and aid others like you aided me.|

  13. At this time I am ready to do my breakfast, afterward having my breakfast coming over again to read more news.|

Leave a Reply to n? tóngxìngliàn xìng’ài Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *