The deckhand signaled Captain Will Horn, who’s at the helm of the John Craig, the last remaining ferryboat on the Kentucky River. Two cars and a pickup truck have just driven on board. The deckhand fastens the safety chain across the boat’s stern and raises the ramp on the edge of the barge.

The John Craig’s paddlewheel starts to churn the green waters of the Kentucky River as it makes the short journey from the Madison County side to the opposite bank, a point that marks the spot where Fayette and Jessamine counties meet.

The Valley View Ferry is Kentucky’s oldest business. A ferry boat has been making this short journey at the Valley View community since 1785. Passengers who have used its services include Daniel Boone, Henry Clay and Ulysses S. Grant.

Not usually perceived as an area that relies on river commerce, Central Kentucky is a place where trying to find qualified ferryboat pilots is a difficult task.

“We had to be very picky about hiring these guys,” said Penny McFadden, of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government’s Department of Public Works. “The captains all had to have river pilot’s licenses. It’s very difficult to find a Coast Guard-licensed pilot in an area that doesn’t have a lot of waterways with commercial traffic.”

Three fully-licensed river pilots operate the Valley View Ferry, one of only eight ferries still operating in the state. The pilots work for the Valley View Ferry Authority. This authority is co-funded by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and the governments of Madison and Jessamine counties. The current chairman of the authority is George Dean, a Jessamine County magistrate.

Currently, Will Horn is head captain of the Valley View Ferry. Harry Bowen and Eric Underhill are its second captains. A recent visit to the ferry found Underhill at the helm, accompanied by a single deckhand, a trusty from the Madison County Jail.

“We’re in a beautiful setting,” Underhill said, his grey ponytail sticking out from under the back of his captain’s hat. “But in the heat of summer, the temperatures on board can sometimes approach 120 degrees with the sunlight hitting the deck combining with the heat from the boat’s diesel engine.”

The ferry boat captain said that winter also has its challenges.

“It’s impossible to run this boat with the pilot house door closed all the time,” he said. “For safety’s sake, you have to be able to communicate with the deckhand, so it gets pretty cold in here.”

Despite the challenges of the Kentucky weather, Underhill enjoys his job. He says it beats the first job he ever held on a boat.

“I was in the Army about 30 years ago, and had to ride a boat up the Mekong River in Vietnam on a mission,” he recalled. “This is a lot more fun.”

A Kentucky tradition
The three captains of the Valley View Ferry are following in a 218-year-old marine tradition that began before Kentucky was granted statehood. The Virginia legislature granted Revolutionary War veteran John Craig the original franchise to run the Valley View Ferry in 1785. Its original charter was signed by Virginia Gov. Patrick Henry.

“Even today we recognize this heritage,” McFadden said. “On the ferry we fly the flags of Kentucky and Virginia. To legally do this required a special act of the Virginia legislature.”

McFadden is one of two Fayette County representatives who sit on the board of the Valley View Ferry Authority. Another member of the authority, engineer and author William Grier, notes in his book, The Five Lives of the Kentucky River, that the waterway played a crucial role in the settlement of the Bluegrass region.

“…as many settlers came up the Kentucky River from the Ohio River as came down it,” Grier writes. “A flatboat ride downstream from Pittsburgh to the Kentucky River was easier, and less risky, than trekking across the uncertain, Indian-filled mountain trails.”

The ferry is located on the Kentucky River at the end of the Fayette-Jessamine county portion of Tates Creek Road. (At the riverside, one lane of the road – also known as KY 169 – is in Fayette, the other is in Jessamine.) It crosses over to the Valley View community in Madison County.

When the ferry was first established, Valley View had a larger population than did Lexington. With the passage of time and the establishment of bridges, railroads and Interstate highways, however, Valley View’s population has dwindled to about 200 souls while Lexington’s has grown to more than a thousand times that size.

In the Valley View ferry’s early days, the major road hazards for travelers using the ferry included buffalo stampedes and raiding parties of Shawnee and Wyandot Indians. Today’s threats – semi-trucks and speeders – are far more mundane.

Located on the Fayette County side of the ferry property is a small park, replete with picnic tables. During good weather, the board members of the Valley View Ferry Authority uses it as a meeting place, overlooking one of the most significant sites in the history of American transportation.

Run as a private business for more than 200 years, the Valley View Ferry was purchased from the Howard family in 1991 by the governments of Fayette, Jessamine and Madison counties. The ongoing improvements to the ferry, largely the result of federal and state grants, have allowed for the construction of a new ferry boat, vehicle barge and towers, which secure the cables that guide the ferry.

For most of the ferry’s history, those riding it had to pay a fee. However, an annual grant from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (usually exceeding $220,000) has made the ferry a free service. It runs from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. Due to high water or unusually bad weather, the ferry at times does not run. Those wanting information on the operating status of the ferry can call the Lexington Traffic Information Network at 258-3611 or Madison County’s traffic network at (859) 628-8143.

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Kentucky's Oldest Business Helps Prevent
Air Pollution

Kentucky’s oldest business is also one that helps save both time and energy on the part of fossil fuels. Founded in 1785, the Valley View Ferry, which crosses the Kentucky River between Fayette, Jessamine and Madison counties, typically transports about 250 cars a day. On a sunny weekend, the ferry can move as many as 450 cars across the river.

Motorists using the ferry save a minimum of 22 miles by utilizing the ferry’s shorter route. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average vehicle in the U.S. gets approximately 24 miles per gallon of gas. Using simple math, that equates to 250 cars saving a total of 5,500 miles, or about 229 gallons of gasoline, on a typical day.

Having more than 200 days of active service each year means that the Valley View Ferry helps conserve, at the very least, some 45,834 gallons of gasoline annually. According to EPA estimates, this means that, each year, the ferry service prevents the following from being belched into Central Kentucky’s atmosphere:

• More than 6,600 pounds of hydrocarbons
• More than 50,000 pounds of carbon monoxide
• More than 833,000 pounds of carbon dioxide
• More than 3,400 pounds of nitrogen oxides

Penny McFadden is the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government representative on the board of the Valley View Ferry Authority. “You always think of the history of the ferry, or its beautiful location,” she notes, “but it’s important to realize that the Valley View Ferry performs an important, environmentally-friendly service.”

 

Claude Hammond is a staff writer for The Lane Report.
editorial@lanereport.com