Starrh's Ferry

The two plaques here tell the ferry differently. The 1941 Daughters of Utah Pioneers bronze, where this pin stands, puts it four miles west of Burley, worked by cable and horse power, and has Thomas Starrh running it until the railroad reached Buhl in 1905. The state sign, about a mile west at the highway, says the current drove it and that Milner Reservoir flooded out summer service after 1904. They agree on what mattered: in the early 1880s it carried freight bound from the railroad at Kelton, Utah, to the Wood River mines.

What the plaque says

No. 75 Erected Nov. 22, 1941 Starrh's Ferry In the summer of 1880 George Starrh, a placer miner, established a ferry 4 miles west of the present city of Burley. Rich mineral mines had been discovered in the Wood River country and freight was hauled between the mines and Kelton, Utah. (The nearest railroad). The wagons were taken across the Snake River on this ferry which was operated by cable and horse power. Later Thomas Starrh bought the ferry from his brother and operated it until 1905 when the railroad came to Buhl, Idaho. Mary Salome Camp Starrh's Ferry In 1880, George Starrh, a Snake River placer miner, started a ferry across Snake River one mile north of here. From 1880-2, freighters hauling supplies for a mining rush to Wood River used Starrh's ferry (powered by river current when stiff winds were not blowing too hard), and local traffic lasted until Milner reservoir flooded out summer operations after 1904. But a small town with a post office (1909-12) remained there for more than a decade. During that time, nearby bridges replaced Starrh's ferry. 28 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Minidoka National Historic Site — 22 mi
  The prisoners built a board for the names of their sons in the Army. When the camp was given away as farms, the board was lost.

More markers nearby

• Milner Dam — 4.1 mi
• Camp Rupert 1943-1946 — 5.3 mi
• Albion State Normal School — 16 mi
• Diamondfield Jack — 16 mi