Crossing the River – Ice Roads and the Ferry

Indigenous people, early explorers, hunters and trappers have crossed the Athabasca River at the site of Athabasca Landing for hundreds of years. During the fur trade, the Hudson’s Bay Company recognized that this southern bend in the river was a natural spot for a landing – the shortest distance between the North Saskatchewan and Athabasca Rivers – and in 1877, HBC built a log shed to store furs and trade goods. It was upgraded to a trading post in 1884 when Leslie Wood, an HBC employee, took up permanent residence. A NWMP outpost was established and one of their duties was to enforce prohibition – north of the Athabasca River was ‘dry’ due to the Northwest Territories Act of 1875.

       The discovery of gold in the Yukon in 1897 brought people from all over the world to Athabasca Landing which was a departure point on the Canadian Water Route to the Klondike. Boat and scow building was already a major industry and steamboats travelled up and down the river which was a fur-trade transportation route. The demand for lumber to build scows and steamboats was significant and much good timber could be found.

Early north-side trails, often only usable during the winter, roughly paralleled the river. Crossing the river to the north bank, the Peace River Trail was accessed by turning to the west. Turning to the east was a trail north into the Big Coulee, Deep Creek and Richmond Park areas and on to Calling Lake. All along these trails there were access points to the river – useful in the winter when travel on the river ice was often the shortest and quickest route to Athabasca. Sleds hauling logs, lumber, grain, railway ties and firewood to heat buildings in town used the ice. One early settler described how, on cold winter days, they could hear voices and the sound of sleighbells coming along the river from quite a distance and there was time to find a place where two sleighs could pass.

In 1906, Louis Menard lobbied the newly-formed Alberta government for a ferry and Athabasca Landing became the site of one of four launched in the province that year. Towers were installed on both sides of the river and a cable hung between them. The ferry was attached to the cable and propelled largely by angling the ferry, allowing the current to push it across. Todd Richards, discussing the ferry in an Athabasca Archives oral interview, recalled the ferry operator charging 25¢. To accommodate steamboat traffic, the cable had to be lowered into the river allowing the boat to pass over it.

The Northern News, July 15, 1909, described an incident in which driftwood floating down the river tangled the cable and it was left down overnight in hopes that it would clear. It didn’t; more driftwood piled against the cable and the pressure toppled the ferry tower on the south bank. One end of the cable had to be cut loose and let drift. The following week, the Northern News reported that the tower had been righted again and the ferry was back in operation. The S. S. Northland Sun had retrieved the cable. The article added that “Business on the ferry was brisk for a little while, several parties having been held up here waiting to get across.”

        A house, usually referred to as “the shack,” was provided for the use of the ferryman and his family. It sat on the south bank. A letter to the editor of the Northern News, April 1, 1911, from R. C. Farrell, expressed the opinion that the ferryman’s wage should be doubled from $25 per month, and concerning fees, that persons settling in the proposed subdivision across the river should be able to cross for no charge as their taxes would “entitle them to this privilege.” He also thought that the ferryman’s shack should be on the north bank where it was more accessible to travellers from the north in emergency situations.

In 1913 new ferry towers were built and described in the Northern News, April 19, 1913: “The towers…stand fifty-one feet high from the sills up, thus giving the cable an elevation of about seventy feet above the main level of the river. The biggest steamboats will pass under easily, and much time will be saved.”  The Northern News, December 19, 1913, said that the ferry stopped running at the end of October, and small boats provided a river-crossing service for $1 per head until the gasoline launch Snowbird was put into service. It charged only 50 cents. In the same issue it was reported that the ferryman’s shack was taken to the north side of the river and plans were made to build another on the opposite shore and to install an alarm system between the two to inform the ferryman of persons wishing to cross at night.

       The ferries themselves were replaced fairly regularly. July 18th, 1913 the Northern News reported that the “new ferry, which was being constructed by contractor Russell, has been launched and is performing its duty in a satisfactory manner under the guidance of Captain Cole, who has been in charge of the ferry for … fifteen months. The old ferry which has been in use continuously for the past seven years was found, owing to the increased traffic, to be incapable of the task.”

       May 15, 1920, the Athabasca Herald described the launch of another ferry. “Contractor Davidson finished the new ferry and it was launched with acclaim on Monday evening. Many citizens took advantage of a trial trip. When crossing the river Tuesday, Capt. Johnson in charge had some difficulty with a cable slipping and owing to this difficulty and the high wind and strong current, the ferry broke away and commenced a trip to McMurray. Capt. Alexander took the steamer Slave River, and picked up the ferry about three miles down the river and it is now in place again. …. It was fortunate there were no teams on the ferry at the time as the accident would no doubt have had serious consequences.”

The Athabasca Echo, April 30, 1937, had an even more interesting story. “Two weeks today the ice went out and the old rotten ferry was in care of a wrecking crew. The material for a new ferry arrived on the following Monday’s train and a crew of builders started a rush job of construction. Ferry building is a different job to putting a ship on the stocks. She is laid upside down till her frame is ribbed and hull and bottom built, braced and “corked.” Then the vessel of about fifty tons has to be turned over using a tripod with windlass and tackle.

       “Working at full pressure the crew had her ready for the turn by Saturday night and by Sunday noon they had the gin-pole, tackle and anchors all ready for the lift by the windlass on the powerful truck. At 7 a.m. Monday the heavy hull was slowly drawn up sideways to an angle of about 45 deg. when something slipped or snapped and the vessel crashed on to and smashed the gin-pole. That entailed another day’s delay till a new gin-pole was made and installed. Fortunately no one was hurt but a crowd gathered Monday evening to see the next turn-turtle operation.

       “All the local Socred officials were among the spectators, including Tade, Doran, Soper, Huffman, besides Garton, Ryder and Engineer Bard. While preliminary adjustments were being made Mr. Bard tried a trip over in the cage and seemed relieved when he got back safely.

“The second attempt to turn her over was safely accomplished and the gang got busy on completing her top deck and pitching her. At nine a.m. this morning the cage was dropped and the lines thrown to the new boat which had its nose at the low water’s edge. The pile-driving truck again did good work in persuading the Saucy Jane to take to the water. When the limit of block and tackle had been reached the truck did a bit of reverse and backed and bunted the new Queen Elizabeth till she floated into the low waters of the Athabaska, just eleven days after her creosoted parts had arrived by train.

       “For three solid weeks not a farm wagon has been able to cross the river. A mounted messenger on the far side was watching and when the new ferry floated the messenger galloped away to spread the news to the marooned farmers, some of whom were short of seed grain. Three of our local boys got three weeks of good hard labor and have got thoroughly creosoted in body and clothing. They deserve a new rig out and the pay should be good enough to provide it.”

       The railway arrived in Athabasca May 25, 1912, and this was accompanied by news that the Canadian Northern Railway planned to extend their line across the river at Athabasca north to Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie. A map was published in the Northern News, July 22, 1911, showing Athabasca as a railway hub serving a vast area of Alberta. In the end, railway lines branched out from St. Albert going east and west and bypassing Athabasca altogether. The Hudson’s Bay Co. and Northern Transportation Company shut down operations on the river in 1914 – goods could be moved north year-round by rail. Pastor J. Lorne McTavish summed up the situation in the Athabasca Herald, July 24, 1920: “To have seen the town grow to a bustling burg of nearly 2000, the centre of a large trade with the Peace River country, and having not only railway connection with Edmonton but a large steamboat service on the Athabasca River, has been the experience of some of the oldtimers still doing business here. These same oldtimers have seen the tide of population ebb until at present it does not exceed 400. Several causes have contributed to this slump in population.”

       The town was shrinking but the amount of traffic crossing the river kept increasing. The Northern News, September 4, 1920, reported, “For the month ending August 31st the number of foot passengers using the ferry was 2936, teams 617 (which includes drivers) loose animals 249, autos 183.”

Reflections from Across the River, 1995, tells us that north-siders were pleased to hear of the long-awaited free ferry service in the spring of 1930. In February of 1930 a deputation consisting of J. P. Evans, Archie Gorman, and William Smith went to Edmonton and met with Premier Brownlee. They presented a strong argument to the government that the unfair practice of a toll for ferries, while bridge traffic was free, be removed.

       Calls for a bridge were becoming louder by 1933. The Athabasca Echo, October 27,1933,reported “…Pioneer settlers by the hundreds have abandoned their homesteads and thrown away improvements for years past not because their land was no good, (the finest crops in the province last year and this were north of the river) but because the long hoped for bridge did not materialize. And, there are thousands of [settlers] who would leave the dried out areas of the prairies for this “Land of Promise” were a bridge, be it ever so crude, put over the Athabasca.”

       Spring break-up still had its hazards for ferry operators. In April 23,1943,The Echo reported that miniature mountains of ice were piled on the river banks. “Art Laporte and a crew of men were busy with picks, axes and shovels clearing the way for ferry operations. He and fellow worker Frank Lafferty were dropped into the freezing water when the formation collapsed. Lafferty was fortunate enough to grab a rope thrown out to him and was towed ashore. Laporte however was taken down stream, clinging to a chunk of ice about two feet square. A row boat was dragged over the jagged ice formation and quickly launched, but a rescue was not effected until Laporte’d negotiated approximately a mile downstream in his role as “hanger-on.” Messrs. Rogers, Harp and Reap formed the rescue party. Laporte suffered but little from his experience, dried off and resumed operations.”

       In 1947 the Athabasca Echo reported in its January 31 edition that, when the local Board of Trade pointed out the problems with transportation across the river to the Minister of Public Works, the government decided to provide an engine and winding cable on the ferry to “overcome some of these difficulties.” The minister, W. A. Fallow, was of the opinion that “It is entirely out of the question to put a bridge in at this point owing to the extreme shortage of steel and the urgency of constructing bridges where the traffic is many times greater than crossing at Athabasca.” No mention of the many weeks of the year that crossing by vehicle was impossible was addressed.

       The ferry had another accident in 1951 while crossing to the north with two trucks and a car with nine passengers aboard. Walter Peters was operating the ferry when a float plane landed upstream due to engine trouble. While taxiing downstream, the plane’s engine quit and the current pushed it into the ferry. When the plane was being pushed away, the ferry cable broke. According to the Athabasca Echo, July 13, 1951, “Bart Reap, one of the passengers, took the Jewell twins, Valerie Gosselin and Mary Irla ashore in the row boat which is always with the ferry, and he went to get the motor boat from the bridge [under construction]. This was fastened to the ferry and it was edged ashore about a hundred yards below the bridge on the other side of the river. On Tuesday it was towed up to the bridge and the trucks and car were driven off, was towed further up river to the ferry landing with Bissell’s Caterpillar, being put in operation at 6 p.m., approximately twenty-four hours after the accident.”