SISTERSVILLE FERRYBOAT HISTORY by John Bowman
The City of Sistersville Ferry Established 1817 features a drawing of the City of Sistersville (I) Ferryboat and Barge
FLY LANDING OF THE SISTERSVILLE FERRY
SISTERSVILLE FERRYBOAT HISTORY by John Bowman
The Ohio Historical Highway Marker at the Fly Landing tells us that the Sistersville Ferry was in operation in 1815, other local histories tell us the Sistersville1 ferry was established in 1817. This we know for sure, January 28, 1818 the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act granting a ferry franchise crossing the Ohio River at Sistersville, Virginia to John McCoy. The State of Virginia set the fares; the fare to cross the river was six pence for a man and the same for a horse.
We don’t know what type of ferryboat first served Sistersville, however the not too shallow Ohio River ran rather swift at Sistersville, and the manpower needed to push-pole a barge across the river would not have been workable.2 McCoy probably used the type ferryboat in use at that time in Wheeling, a two-horse powered treadmill ferryboat. Steam-powered ferryboats became available in the 1840s but some histories have the Sistersville Ferry running horse-powered treadmill ferrys into the late 1880s. In 1886, they purchased the 1884 built steam-powered Orion, and a new steam-powered ferryboat, the W.C. Pusey in 1889.
The “Sistersville Ferry Company” (in name) was formed in 1894 when John McCoy’s descendants, Frank D., A.S. McCoy, and Elizabeth W. Talbott bought the ferry franchise from the remaining McCoy family members. In 1907, the Orion was converted into the steam-powered ferryboat Daniel, which they sold in 1917. After selling the Daniel, the fleet went from steam-powered ferryboats to gasoline-powered ferryboats. These boats were built at Clarington, Ohio, those being the 1917 gasoline-powered stern-wheel Dora T. that ran into 1925, and the 1925 gasoline-powered Kiwanis in operation into 1956. The Sistersville Ferry Company became a stock holding company and issued shares in 1920.
In 1937, stockholder Everett Tuel bought up shares then owned by Elizabeth Talbott’s descendants gaining control of the company, which he operated as the “Tuel Fleet”. The balance of shares remained with the McCoy family. Tuel went to diesel-power when he purchased the 1938 Elinor D. and the 1939 John F. III. They would serve the Sistersville Ferry service to 1955.
Tuel sold his interest to Joe Witten in 1955 and Witten bought out the last of the McCoy interests in 1960. The McCoy family had owned or been involved in the Sistersville ferry for over one hundred-forty years. Joe Witten had the Rides; a new diesel powered ferry-towboat built for him by Yates Marine Construction Co. in Wheeling, W. Va. in 1955, and added the Sham ferryboat in 1958.
Capt. Gilbert B. “Dib” Harmon3 bought the ferry service in 1964 and used the Rides into 1977 when he shut the service down. In 1980, the city of Sistersville, West Virginia purchased the ferry service. They bought the 1952-built Judge Hickman stern-wheel ferry-towboat, and in 1991 renamed it the City of Sistersville. In 1999, a new ferry-towboat, the diesel-powered City of Sistersville II replaced the old City of Sistersville.
The Sistersville Ferry, West Virginia’s oldest ferry franchise is operated daily using the City of Sistersville II, and the Capt. G.B. Harmon barge, which holds as many as eight cars (barges have names too).
Endnotes
1 Source: The Navigator 1814, Pg. 89 John Williamson’s Island and Well’s tavern and fine farm are on the left side. (Sistersville, Virginia / West Virginia). Mr. Charles Wells settled here in 1776. Ferry at mile 136
2 The use of a cable stretched across the main channel of the Ohio River that would impede navigation was never allowed by the state of Virginia. This negated the use of a lea-board or Current Ferry.
3 Source: Goldenseal, Daniel, Will, “The Last of Its Kind” Dib Harmon and the Sistersville Ferry, Fall 1990, Pages 50-54
Bless you-thank you-Care to write more about this?
Your reasoning should be seen as the benchmark when it comes to this topic.
You ommited something?
Thank you fоr tһe good writеup. It in fact was а amusement account it.
Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! However, hоw could we communicate?
I have learned result-oriented things by your website. One other thing I’d like to say is that newer personal computer os’s are inclined to allow more memory to be played with, but they as well demand more memory space simply to work. If a person’s computer can not handle much more memory plus the newest software requires that memory increase, it is usually the time to shop for a new Computer system. Thanks
Real clear internet site, thankyou for this post.
As a website developer I believe the material here is truly awesome, regards.
Immigration Lawyers… […]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[…]…
This information is magnificent. I understand and respect your clear-cut points. I am impressed with your writing style and how well you express your thoughts.
With thanks! Valuable information! https://php665.com/
Everything is very open with a clear explanation of the issues.
It was truly informative. Your site is extremely helpful.
Thank you for sharing!
Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all folks you actually understand what you are
talking approximately! Bookmarked. Please additionally talk over with my website =).
We will have a link exchange agreement between us
I always used to read piece of writing in news papers but now
as I am a user of net so from now I am using net for
content, thanks to web.
WOW just what I was searching for. Came here by searching for gamefly free
trial
Hi, Neat post. There is an issue with your web site in web explorer, could
test this? IE still is the market chief and a good section of other folks will miss your wonderful
writing due to this problem.
whoah this weblog is wonderful i like studying your articles.
Keep up the good work! You realize, a lot of individuals are hunting around for this information, you can aid them greatly.
I have been browsing online greater than three
hours these days, but I by no means found any attention-grabbing article
like yours. It’s beautiful worth sufficient for
me. In my view, if all web owners and bloggers made good
content material as you probably did, the net will
likely be much more helpful than ever before.
Hello, I would like to subscribe for this blog to take most up-to-date updates, thus where can i do it please help out.
Have you ever considered about including a little bit more
than just your articles? I mean, what you say is valuable and
everything. But imagine if you added some great graphics or video clips to give your posts more,
“pop”! Your content is excellent but with images and clips, this blog could undeniably be one of the
best in its field. Excellent blog!
Hi! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO?
I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good gains.
If you know of any please share. Appreciate it!
Way cool! Some very valid points! I appreciate you penning this write-up plus the rest of the
site is really good.
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to
make your point. You clearly know what youre talking about,
why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your site when you could be giving us something informative to read?
I am actually delighted to read this webpage posts which carries plenty of valuable
data, thanks for providing such information.
If you desire to obtain a good deal from this post then you have to apply these techniques to your won web site.
this is some opinion you have!
I know this web site provides quality dependent content and other
material, is there any other web page which offers these things in quality?
No matter if some one searches for his essential thing, so
he/she desires to be available that in detail, thus that thing is maintained over here.
It’s good to read an article like this, that shows the writer thinks outside the box! You certainly made me think! Thanks-I wouldn’t have seen things from your p.o.v otherwise. I have to share this…
“I like the valuable information you provide in your articles. I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again here regularly. I am quite certain I’ll learn plenty of new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!”
It’s amazing designed for me to have a web page, which is
useful in favor of my knowledge. thanks admin
You really make it appear really easy along with your presentation but I
to find this matter to be really one thing that I believe I might by no means understand.
It sort of feels too complicated and extremely large for me.
I am having a look forward to your subsequent submit, I’ll attempt
to get the cling of it!
Good day! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO?
I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good
results. If you know of any please share. Cheers!
What’s up, all is going perfectly here and ofcourse every one is sharing information, that’s genuinely excellent, keep up writing.
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a
comment is added I get three emails with the same
comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service?
Thank you!
My brother recommended I would possibly like this web
site. He was once entirely right. This publish actually made my day.
You can not consider just how so much time I had spent for
this info! Thank you!
Say, you got a nice blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Keep writing.
Say, you got a nice blog.Really thank you! Want more.
Great blog post.Thanks Again. Much obliged.
A round of applause for your article post.Really looking forward to read more. Will read on…