The Runaway Ferry
A White Bluffs ferryboat breaks its lines and embarks on an unscheduled voyage down the Columbia River.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Some time during Tuesday night the White Bluffs ferryboat broke loose from its moorings and started on an exploring trip downstream. It was beached at Ringold about 8 miles below Hanford. Captain Brown of the Hanford Flyer attempted to bring it up Wednesday, but it sank near Ballygreen Farm. It has been tied to shore and will probably not be raised until the river goes down.
“Some time during Tuesday night the White Bluffs ferryboat broke loose from its moorings and started on an exploring trip downstream.”
Today, the Columbia River at White Bluffs is dammed and largely calm, but in 1917, the untamed river was a constant challenge to the town's infrastructure. The loss of a ferry was not just a curiosity; it was a major disruption to the vital link between White Bluffs and the surrounding agricultural communities.
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