Glenn's Ferry

The quotation on this sign comes from the Idaho Statesman of April 1871, and the paper named two proprietors: Moody and Glenn, whose ferry it had announced the November before. Glenn soon bought out Moody. The Chamber of Commerce panel by the river, placed in 2002, names the partner as Ken Lewis instead. The 1878 sinking did not end the business; that October the Alturas County commissioners renewed Glenn's franchise for eight years. John Hailey moved his stages onto the route in 1879, and after the Oregon Short Line arrived in 1883 the ferry was abandoned within the decade.

What the plaque says

Glenn's Ferry After the golden spike was driven at Promontory Utah in 1869 the nearest railroad station to Boise was Kelton on the north shore of the Great Salt Lake. A ferry was built 1/2 mile up on the river as a joint effort by Gustavus Glenn, a local rancher who operated freight wagons in the area and Ken Lewis, to service traffic on the Kelton road. Stage coach operators preferred the more northerly route over King Hill and a crossing near Thousand Springs. Operators of heavy freight wagons preferred the local route and in 1870 Glenn bought Lewis out. A post office was established in the ferry house with Glenn as postmaster. The Kelton road was used only until 1883 at which time the Oregon Short Line Railroad was completed through here. After that time the ferry was used to service farms and ranches south of the river until well into the twentieth century by the McAnulty, Rosevear and Eicholz families, having been refurbished a number of times. Sign placed by Glenns Ferry Area Chamber of Commerce, MMII Glenn's Ferry Heavy Boise freight traffic from Pacific rail terminals in Utah and Nevada led Gus Glenn to start a ferry here in 1870. This crossing (just below I-84's bridges) connected to a shorter and better freight road. James S. Reynolds noted its advantages: "By it King Hill, Clear Creek Hill, and that horrid road between Canyon Creek and Rattlesnake are avoided." Indians captured and sank Glenn's Ferry during a Bannock War skirmish here in 1878. But overland stage service started here in 1879 and lasted until Glenn's Ferry became an important railroad center in 1883. 199 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bruneau Dunes State Park — 20 mi
  Sand dunes that stay where they are, in a bend the Snake River abandoned, under dark skies an hour from Boise.
• Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument — 21 mi
  Idaho's state fossil is closer to a zebra than a horse, and nearly the whole herd is in a museum in Washington.

More markers nearby

• Oregon Trail — steps away
• Bannock War — 11 mi
• Fossil Beds — 20 mi
• Rattlesnake Station — 23 mi