WHERE IS IT?

Here’s a ferryboat on the Red and Sulphur Rivers near Doddridge, AR, which in this 1986 photograph is shown crossing the waters with its cargo of one pick-up truck. Do you know the ferryboat’s name? Stay tuned for a moment.

This ferry would take only about five minutes to cross -- that is, if your vehicle arrived on the same side on which the ferry was docked. It you had to wait, that’s just what you did. Otherwise, the alternative route north to Garland, AR, or south to Hosston, LA, would take half an hour or more. Sometimes the river water would be too low, and the ferry couldn’t get you across.

The ferry would be open from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. It wasn’t exactly fun. It was more inconvenient.

“The only ones who think this ferry charming or a pleasant surprise are those who don’t half to use it,” one area resident said.

There had been a ferry here privately owned by the Blanton family since 1836 and until 1957 when the state took it over. Today this original ferryboat resides brightly painted and well cared-for in Doddridge’s City Park. It may the only one so kept in the state.

Go over and walk the park or go down the bank to the river’s edge as you would have had to do when driving aboard. Imagine the tug boat starting up and pushing or pulling you across.

Once heard, you would never forget its name. And here it is:

ANSWER

The Spring Bank Ferry