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The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., March 24, 1988, page 5
Includes photographs

EARLY RIVER FERRY LINKED STATES' ECONOMIES
By Velma Hile

The Sam Hill bridge is a convenient alternative to crossing the Columbia River given the earlier option for transporting goods from the shores of Washington to Oregon. Before the bridge, a ferry traveled from Fruit Farm Flats, now Maryhill, up river to Grant, Oregon, loaded with wagons, carts and commodities or whenever needed to be transported across the river.
Grant, a thriving business center which saw nearly 30 wagons arrived for supplies daily, relied heavily on the wheat and sheep products that Washington committees had to offer, making transportation a vital element in Fruit Farm Flats' existence.
In fact, transportation took priority over a place to worship; in the 1880's, when wood was needed for a ferry, a beam was taken from the Fruit Farm Flats Methodist Church. The church was dismantled after the beam was taken.
The ferries provided dock jobs for Fruit Farm Flats residents who would unload wheat bags from wagons and stack them six feet high to await transport to the Oregon side of the Columbia River.
But the ferries and tugs were the only used for transportation, often they served on rescue missions and were credited with saving men from the Goodal Distillery before it was carried off by the rushing waters of the Columbia River in May of 1894.
The flood waters took the town of Grant with them, making it necessary to relocate the ferry landing farther west, at what is now Biggs Junction.
Even with the landing site changed, ferry service was still widely used, but the trouble was not without its hazards.
Ferry operator Erwin Peck, when transporting sheep in 1918, found his job to be more than routine when he loaded too many sheep on board and caused the rigged to sink. The sinking required the cargo to swim to shore.
A frozen river during the winter of 1928-29 closed the ferry for three weeks. Transportation came to a standstill as the ferry itself was frozen solid in the frigid river.
Anxious operators conducted a scheme to free the frozen ferry, opting to breaking the ice with dynamite. But the blasting proved to be an inaccurate method to use, because, instead of the freeing the boat, the dynamite blew a hole in the side of the tug. The ice was left intact.
Winds continually created a hazardous conditions.
Ferry operator Irwin Robison was taking Maryhill's founder Sam Hill to a blasting site down river. Hill needed to know if more blasting was necessary to make the river passable. Gladys Robison chuckled as she recapped the trip.
"It was so windy that day that the horses were having a bad time standing up. My husband, Irwin, needed to secure some things to the boat to make the trip safer," Robison said. "He asked me to drive."
Hill was evidently opposed to having a woman ferry driver as he "blurted out that this was no place for a lady." Robison reminisced. "I was really deflated."
Ferries often ran away from their operators, making the ferry captain job extremely hazardous.
"I was very happy when my husband finally quit operating the ferry," Robison acknowledges. "Because I didn't like standing on shore worrying about him."
Unpredictable river levels made the ferry mode of transportation unreliable. If the river was too high, getting under the railroad bridge at Wishram was a problem. A low river would bog the ferry down in the sand.
Going from the freeways of southern California to the ferries of Maryhill was a culture shock for Edith Craker as she went to visit her family in 1959.
"Risking my life on that boat to get to Goldendale was not my idea of fun," Craker said. "Being a world traveler never offered me such a challenge as the ferry did."
Construction finished on Satus pass in 1931, opening Highway 97 from Goldendale to Toppenish. The ferry became the floating link on the truck route from Portland to Ellensburg, as well as from Seattle to points south via the highway.
It was thought that the opening of The Dalles Bridge would immediately nullify the Maryhill ferry, but that proved not to be true.
What actually led to the demise of the ferry was an idea of Henry Miller's. Miller, a highway employee, had a vision of a bridge to replace the Maryhill ferry. Others laughed at his idea of suggesting private sales of bonds to build the bridge.
But eventually the bridge became a reality and opened November 1, 1962. Tolls of $1 per auto, $2 for three axle vehicles, $3 for five axle trucks, 25 cents for motorcycles and ten cents for pedestrians were collected until February 3, 1975 at 11:00 a.m., when the debt on the bridge was paid off, according to Bob Keier of the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Estimates in 1986 indicate that 3,150 vehicles cross the bridge each day. Even modern day ferries would have a problem transporting that many vehicles and so the ferries only became a memory.
From the freeways of southern California to the ferrys of Maryhill was a culture shock for Edith Craker as she went to visit her family. "Risking my life on that boat to get to Goldendale was not my idea of fun," Craker said. "Being a world traveler never offered me such a challenge as the ferry did."
When the road opened in 1931 from Goldendale to Toppenish the ferry became the floating link on the truck route from Portland to Ellensburg, as well as from Seattle to points south via U.S. Highway 97. It was thought that the opening of The Dalles Bridge would immediately nullify the Maryhill ferry. This did not prove to be true.
Henry Miller, a highway employee, had a vision of a bridge to replace the Maryhill ferry. Others laughed at his idea of suggesting private sales of bonds to build the bridge.
The bridge became a reality and was opened November 1, 1962. Tolls were collected until February 3, 1975 at 11:00 a.m. when the debt on the bridge was paid off according to Bob Keier of the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Tolls were collected at $1.00 for auto, $2.00 for 3 axle vehicles, $3.00 for semi 5 axle trucks, motorcycles passed for 25 cents and those caring to walk paid only 10cents. What small price to pay for such a convenient mode of transportation.
The bridge has been a welcome change for the 3,150 vehicles a day that cross the bridge daily in 1986, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.