Down Historic Trails of Fort Worth and Tarrant County Page: 34

                                
SITE OF FERRY BOAT ACROSS THE TRINITY IN 1850's AND 1860's
Each month hundreds of covered wagons of Texas home-seekers reined to
a stop on the banks of the Trinity north of Fort Worth in the mid-fifties and
throughout the sixties. The wagons patiently waited as long as two or three
hours to be taken across the river by a ferry operated by Charles Biggers
Daggett and his sons. The picture above shows the ferry's site which
would now be described as just east of Samuels Avenue railroad viaduct.
Daggett operated the ferry not only for the convenience of immigrants in
covered wagons but also for cattle. It was said, as many as 40,000 cattle were
ferried across annually at this point when the river was high.
The antiquated ferry had a very complex system of operation. Heavy teams
of mules were stationed opposite each other on either side of the river. When
passengers were ready to be ferried .across, they were loaded on a large raft
and ropes were thrown across to the team on the opposite side. The team
cliinlbd up Ihe bank pulling the raft across.
--Lynne Buse
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