Newport's Ferry Fund, One Dinner at a Time
A public subscription drive for a free river crossing gets a boost from a new restaurateur who pledges a night's receipts.
The committee soliciting funds for the free public ferry reports that to date there has been subscribed $800. About $350 more are needed to complete the required sum, and the committee will continue its efforts. R. S. Proctor, the new proprietor of the Commercial dining room, is a property owner on the east side of the river and takes an interest in the ferry proposition. In order to assist in the project he announces that on Saturday, Oct. 17, he will donate all proceeds from meals served to the ferry proposition.
“About $350 more are needed to complete the required sum and the committee will continue its efforts.”
Newport's public ferry was crowdfunded before crowdfunding had a name—through subscriptions and a benefit dinner at the Commercial Hotel. The same question echoes in modern debates over rural transit and who pays for connections across the Pend Oreille River.
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