Boones Ferry
Boones Ferry (also Boone's Ferry) was a cable ferry which crossed the Willamette River near present-day Wilsonville, Oregon, USA, 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 made obsolete 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 1,000 acres (4.0 km2)
on and around present day Charbonneau which was on the main road between Oregon City and present day Butteville.
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. 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 1, 1850, or February 27, 1850,
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.
