of
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume I, 1911, pages 85-86
FERRY BOATS. Through the careful research labors of Edward L. Graham, the writer and the readers of this work are indebted for facts, and many of them, relating to various subjects of interest herein contained. Among them is the following data pertinent to the ferries and ferry boats, the last of which disappeared when the high bridge was opened for traffic:
Probably the first ferry boat at Muscatine was the Polly Keith, a flat boat built in 1839, for Charles Warfield by D. C. Cloud and George Leffingwell, Sr. The next was propelled by steam and named the Iowa. Its captain was John Phillips and the craft was in commission one season (1842), when it was condemned and dismantled. For two or three years thereafter Phillips ran a flat boat with oars. The successor to the flat boat was one propelled by horse power in 1845, similar to the Apex. It was first run by Brooks & Reece, then by Colonel A. M. Hare and others. From March, 1852, to 1855, the Apex, a horse-power boat, was in the service under Fimple & Pettibone, and in July, 1855, the steam ferry boat Muscatine was placed in commission by Fimple & Pettibone and remained until 1858.
The Decalion was a steamboat and was used for ferry purposes from 1858 until February 16, 1868, when it sank to the bottom of the river. Next came the Northern Illinois, a steam boat, which was in the ferry service here from the spring of 1868, until May, 1874, when it was sold to Captain Leonard. The last was the Ida May, which plied from shore to shore from May 24, 1875, to May 16, 1891, when she was sold to the Muscatine Fence Company after the opening of the high bridge.
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