Early in the history of America it was not uncommon for an enterprising individual to erect a house on a riverbank and make a living providing a ferry service moving people and goods to the opposite shore. Historical records from 1797 indicate that at St. Louis, passengers on the east bank of the Mississippi would embark from Capt.
James S. Piggott’s Ferry House to sit in hollowed-out tree trunks as they were paddled and poled across the river. Later, ferries used horses harnessed onto a circular treadmill on the boat.
As the horses walked in circles they powered a paddlewheel propelling the ferry across the water. Eventually steam and gasoline engines replaced the horses, and the size of the ferries increased. Richard Bruner of Decatur, Ill.
waits to board the Golden Eagle Ferry on the St. Charles County side of the Mississippi River on May 21. Bruner, joined by Scott Gilman, were headed home after riding to Wentzville on Monday to meet a group of Memorial Day riders headed to Washington, D.
C. Another early means of power was to use a cable firmly strung from bank to bank and attached to the ferry. The cable kept the boat on course, and the current of the river delivered the power.
Piggott’s ferry eventually ended up in the ownership of Samuel Wiggins, whose name would be tied to river crossings at St. Louis for the next century. It was not until 1874 and the opening of Eads Bridge, the first pedestrian span across the Mississippi, that St.
Louis area ferries began a slo.