Ride the first "Colsac" Ferry at Merrimac in 1955 in this short video converted from the silent 8mm film reel.
The Merrimac Ferry, which crosses the Wisconsin River between Sauk and Columbia counties, is Wisconsin's only free ferry. It shuttles WIS 113 traffic between Okee on the east bank and Merrimac on the west. The ferry is open for service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, normally from April 15 through November 30.
In 1844, Chester Mattson, the second settler on the site of the village of Merrimac, along with George Grant obtained charters to provide ferry service at the present-day location. The ferry was in operation four years before Wisconsin became a state and long before there was a marked road leading to or away from it.
Each passenger was charged five cents to ride the ferry, as well as 25 cents for each horse and 40 cents for a team of oxen. Another private investor, W.P. Flanders, took over the service in 1849 for the sum of $700, and for many years it continued as a private operation.
The ferry was human-powered until around the turn of the century, when the first gasoline engine was added. With the completion of the Prairie du Sac Dam in 1914, this area of the Wisconsin River became Lake Wisconsin. In 1924 Sauk and Columbia Counties took over the operation of a wooden ferry, Colsac I, carrying eight cars across the lake, charging 35 cents per car and 5 cents for pedestrians and 75 cents for trucks. "Colsac" is a portmanteau of Columbia and Sauk, the two counties connected by the ferry.
The State of Wisconsin took over the ferry as part of the state highway system in 1933, with operation and maintenance performed by the Columbia County Department of Transportation.The toll was eliminated. The wooden ferry then in service, the first Colsac, had a capacity of eight cars. It was replaced by the Colsac II in 1963, with a capacity of twelve cars.In 2003, the Colsac III, a 15-car ferry, was christened and now makes the routine voyage across Lake Wisconsin.
Негізгі бет Merrimac Ferry 1955
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