Special to Saline River Chronicle
FAYETTEVILLE – A brief history of the ferry at Moro Bay was included in the latest issue of the Arkansas Historical Quarterly, the official journal of the Arkansas Historical Association, published here at the University of Arkansas History Department.
The prominent mention of the ferry between Bradley and Union counties, was written by Ralph Wilcox, the National Register and survey coordinator of the Arkansas Preservation Program in Little Rock.
The article, “Arkansas Listings in the National Register of Historic Places: Vessels Listed In the National Register,” appears on pages 203-209 of the most recent issue of the AHQ, the summer 2022 issue. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent shortages of printing papers has caused the 82-year-old journal to be almost one year behind in its printing and distributing the historical and academic journal.
By Maylon Rice
Saline River Chronicle Feature Contributor
The article by Wilcox, mainly examines three vessels, two, the USS Razorback and the USS Hoga, gained their historical significance outside the United States, while the ferry at Moro Bay, on the other hand, has a history that is more directly tied to Arkansas, and its past.
“During the nineteenth century, ferries played an integral role in the state’s transportation infrastructure. Although only one, the Peel Ferry in Marion County (in north central Arkansas), still operates today, the importance of ferries in various parts of the state in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is immortalized in place names such as Greers Ferry, Jenkins Ferry Battleground State Park and Preston Ferry, Moro Bay on the Ouachita in Bradley County also illustrates the ferries’ significance.
“The first ferry to serve Moro Bay was Bucke’s Ferry, operated by William Burk, his family and his slaves beginning in 1828. Burk’s Ferry ran on a cable system and charged 12.5 cents to cross the river, The ownership and design of the ferry changed over the years, but it remained in service until 1948, when it became financially unfeasible to operate the ferry profitably. However, the public still wanted an Ouachita River crossing at Moro Bay,” writes Wilcox.
“The state lacked the funding to build a bridge at the location, so it established a new ferry there instead.”
“When construction on the Moro Bay ferry began in early 1965, fifteen ferries operated in Arkansas. As was noted at the time, “Of this number 8 are operated as free ferries by the Highway Department and 7 are independently operated as toll ferries,”
Even then, two of the independently operated ferries were superseded by bridges, and the number of vehicles that utilized the remaining ferries daily from an estimated fifty for the Guion Ferry on the White River in Izard County to the over seven hundred using the Norfork Lake ferry in Baxter County.
The Barbour Metal Boatworks of Missouri built the towboat for the Moro Bay ferry, dubbing it Hull No. 1150. The focus of the company’s output had evolved since its founding in 1913, changing from small-scale recreational boats to commercial vessels, with a majority being tow-boats.
The Barbour Metal Boat Works remained in business until 1985.
The Arkansas State Highway Commission allotted $91,250,15 for construction of the Moro Bay Ferry (Job 7618) on Highway 15. Arkansas Highways magazine covered its opening, reporting, “On April 28, (1965), the old-hand driven ferry was discontinued in the early 40’s … Governor Orval Faubus dedicated the ferry system. Walter Hicks, District 7 engineer (of the State Highway Department) said the boat would operate from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on a seven-day a week basis and two shifts might be used if warranted by traffic.”
“The ferry will have a capacity of six cars or 64,000 pounds. The tow boat will propel the barge across the river at 12 mph,” according to the Arkansas Highways magazine article.
Interestingly, the Moro Bay ferry was likely the last one built in Arkansas. The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department began a concerted effort to replace the ferries during the 1970s. The number operating in the state fell from thirteen in 1970 to only six by 1980,
The Moro Bay ferry lasted until October 1992, when a bridge over the Ouachita River on Highway 15 (today it is U.S. Highway 63), opened to the public.
Arkansas Highways noted, “The Moro Bay ferry on highway 15 made its historic ‘final run’ just a few hours as the new Ouachita River Bridge was dedicated and opened to traffic on October 27. A crowd, estimated at nearly four hundred people, was on hand to witness the end of an era and the beginning of another.”
The original Hull No. 1150 is on display at Moro Bay State Park, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 19, 2018.
For more information on this or other National Register properties in Arkansas, please visit www.arkansaspreservation.com or contact the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.
To learn more about the Arkansas Historical Association or join the Association and receive its quarterly publication, The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, at www, arkansashistoricalassociation.org