Upper Ferry Site

Crossing the Colorado by muscle was dangerous work. Early ferrymen rowed upstream and fought the current across; wagons sometimes went into the river. In 1896 James Emett took over and demanded a better way. By 1899 he had moved the landing to this safer site and rigged the boat to a fixed cable, letting the river's own current pull it across on a track. A log tower filled with stones anchored the line. The pile of rock behind the marker is what remains of that engineering.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Antelope Canyon — 11 mi
  Tsé bighánílíní — where the water runs through the rock

More markers nearby

• Lees Ferry — 0.4 mi
• Historic District River Trail — 0.5 mi
• Lees Ferry Fort — 0.5 mi
• Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness — 1.0 mi