Wakefield - Coopersville Ferry
Memories of the Wakefield - Coopersville Ferry revisited
NOTES OF THE WAKEFIELD FERRY - John Grabb
He remembers as a young boy, it was a trill to cross the river on the Coopersville Ferry boat in the 1920's.
The ferryboat here was a boat thirty-five feet long and twelve feet wide. It was a shallow boat about three feet deep covered with heavy planks and had an apron of hinged planks at each end. Upon reaching the shore the apron breached the gap from boat to shore so that any vehicles on board could cross and proceed up the steep bank. About midway on the boat was a pitcher pump to pump out any leakage from the seams in the bottom and rain-water.
A rope, one inch or better, spanned the river which was about two-hundred fifty feet wide at the point. The rope passed through a sheave on one end of the boat and then around a windlass with spoke handles much like the captain's wheel on a sailing vessel. The rope then went through a sheave on the opposite end of the boat. This was all on the side that faced upstream. A steel cable, anchored to trees on both sides of the river, was stretched about twenty feet above the water. Ropes fastened to each end of the boat formed a triangle up the cable.
NOTES - WAKEFIELD - COOPERVILLE FERRY.
At the apex it joined a pulled that rolled across the cable as the boat moved across the river.
The ferry could accommodate two automobiles or two horses and buggies. Upon untying the mooring the ferryman started turning the rope windlass. He then enlisted any aboard, which could help to grasp the rope and pull as they walked along in the opposite direction of the course of the ferry. After the boat left the eddies near the bank, the ferry reached the channel of current. Here he could get help from the current of the water by dropping a leeboard. The boat had a leeboard on each end on the downside of the current. One board was angled to the right and to the other angled to the left. In crossing to Wakefield side (east) he dropped the board angled to the right and the current slowly pushed the boat in that direction. From that point it was an easy ride to the opposite shore. Coming back he would drop the other leeboard angled to the left.
NOTES: Wakefield - Coopersville Ferry
For a six year old boy it was quite a thrill to ride with his uncle in a horse-drawn buggy on the ferry over to Wakefield to get a sack of candy at Noel's store. This recollection is from later ferry crossings and conservation by this writer (John Grabb) with his cousin Fern Flowers who often helped his father, who for several years was the ferryman.
This is from John Grabb's book "Little Known Tales of Old Chillicothe and Ross County" 2001 and available at Book World store in Chillicothe.
John states the Coopersville Ferry was the last ferry to operate on the Scioto River. For many years it was the only river crossing between Jasper and Portsmouth.
Note: Coopersville was a settlement at Ganderhook Road and SR 104 but also had a flour mill powered by the Ohio & Erie Canal which ran by it. A bridge over the canal was used to reach the ferry landing. Mail was brought over from the N & W Railroad depot at Wakefield to Coopersville and other local post offices such as Camp and Ladd.
The Waverly News Watchman - February 2004
By: Jim Henry, Author of Pike's Past
Copyright © 2006
Pike Co. Genealogy Society a Chapter of O.G.S.
P. O. Box 224, Waverly, Ohio 45690