Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
HORSE FERRY
HORSE FERRY. A team boat was a ferry powered by horses or mules walking on a treadmill. The river transportation was popular in the U.S. between 1810 – 1850s. (1)
The first documented horse-powered boat in the United States was built on the Delaware River in 1791 by John Fitch. One design for the team boat had horses on a treadwheel that turned the paddle wheels. Another style had horses tied to a horse mill-like contraption walking around in a circle. The third design had horses walking straight ahead on a kind of treadmill. (2)
George Kimbel, one of the sons of Richard KIMBEL operated a horse ferry between Bellevue, Iowa and Blanding, Wisconsin in 1890 when he was fourteen.(3)
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Source:
1. "Boats With Horse Power," Ripley's Believe It or Not," Online: http://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/horse-ferry/
2. Ibid.
3. "Old Timer Recalls His Days on the River and Railroad Here," Telegraph Herald, August 6, 1950, p. 2