The Tourist, 1921

When my friend Sue asked me about the ferries that once crossed the bay and I told her that there never had been any, we were both a bit confused.  Last night we revisited that conversation and realized that we were talking at cross-purposes.  A ‘ferry’ in my mind was totally different from the ‘ferry’ of Sue’s question.

To me, and I imagine to most people with generational roots here at the beach, thoughts of a local ferry take us right to the river and Megler and to the ferries that crossed back and forth to Astoria.  (And along these terminology lines, notice my reference to “the river.”  There is only one of the many rivers of our area that is commonly referred to generically and that, of course, is the Columbia.)

Tourist No. 3, circa 1930s

Regular car ferry service was begun by Captain Fritz Elfving back in 1921.  The Tourist could hold up to fifteen vehicles.  The statistics for 1922 show that it carried 6500 vehicles and 25,000 people across the river that summer, prompting Elfving to build a second ferry, Tourist II.

Ferry service continued to connect the Oregon and Washington sides of the river until the bridge opened in 1966.

On the bay, regular runs were made from town to town from very early on.  In 1874, Alfred Lewis Loomis secured one of the first contracts with the Postal Department to carry mail from Astoria, Oregon to Olympia, the capital of Washington Territory.  The boat that carried mail and passengers from from Oysterville to Bay Center, South Bend, Riverside, Woodard’s Landing and North Cove three times a week was simply referred to as “the mail boat.”

Shamrock and Reliable, circa 1905

By 1882, the Shoalwater Bay Transportation Company was formed and soon had steam propeller launches operating on the bay.  Twin steamers, the Shamrock and Reliable, operated between South Bend and Nahcotta from the early 1900s until late in the 1920s.  They, too, carried mail and passengers and assorted freight and provided a necessary link between Seattle and Portland by meeting the trains at South Bend and Nahcotta.  They were referred to simply as “steamers” or “launches.”  They were discontinued as roads were built and car travel became the norm.

“But, they were foot-ferries, weren’t they?” asked Sue.  I had to concede that they probably were, though I had never heard the term used in connection with them.  So, were there ferries on the bay?  I still say, “No.”