More about the railroad below.
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| Paul Rabenhorst posted The transfer station between Saint Genevieve, Missouri, and Modoc, Illinois. Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) posted [They implied this was the ferry operation at Baton Rouge.] |
A better copy:
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| Dennis Patton posted Larry Stamm shared this photo of a "train ferry" that went across the Mississippi river between St. Genevieve, MO & Modoc, IL. In 1904, the Illinois Southern Railroad began operating a ferry at Little Rock Landing north of Ste. Genevieve to carry railroad cars across the Mississippi River to Kellogg, Illinois. The transfer ferry operated until 1961. The landing was also used for river transportation of the city’s products. |
A road ferry still runs here. This ferry looks like the one Illinois supports on the Ohio River. Although a comment in BridgeHunter says the one here is smaller and scarier than the IL-1 ferry.
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| Dennis DeBruler [Because of the current, the ferry aims for the upstream side and allows the current to pull it around to the dock.] |
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| Barney Kemp, Jan 2018 |
"The French Connection" is using a much sharper approach angle to fight the current.
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| stegenmodocferry "The ferry...is the official crossing point for bicyclists enjoying the Great River Road or the Mississippi River Bicycle Trail." [That may explain why so many of the photos on Google Maps showed motorcycles crossing on the ferry.] |
Google Maps indicates the ferry is "temporarily closed." I wondered if that is because the Mississippi River is currently quite low. I checked their web site, and in a sidebar it says it is "not currently running." But it doesn't say why or when it might resume. Normally it operates through the Winter. Judging from some Facebook comments, they took the ferry up to St Louis back in March for it's 5 year inspection and found that it needed repairs. On Oct 9, 2022, Don Roth commented: "According to officials at the New Bourbon Regional Port Authority ... the group that runs the ferry from Ste. Genevieve to KRPD's Kellogg Dock near Modoc, the ferry is still out for repairs and will not be available until at least, December. Those same people say that even if the ferry was running, the Mississippi is so low, they could not operate."
Les Trautman Jr. posted five photos with the comment: "I live in St Genevieve Missouri I believe this is the lowest I've ever seen the river at Little Rock Landing it's exposing the remnants of the steam engine transfer station from St Genevieve Missouri to Modoc Illinois I've seen pilings over the years but have never seen the actual rails."
Sam Halcomb: How come these things are being exposed now, when they were built and used earlier?
Jerry Petersen: Lock and dams .......They didnt have them back in the day.
Dennis DeBruler: Jerry Petersen They still don't have them down here. I understand that the last L&D on the Mississippi is in the St. Louis area.
Aaron Jones: So technically the river is back to a normal level pre levee being built.
[The railroad dock was just south of the existing road dock.]
Mark Frazier shared with the comment: "Low water find."
Roger Bourbeau: Is someone going to point out the obvious here? Low water? This construction was clearly at the normal level when it was in operation.
Dennis DeBruler: Roger Bourbeau There are no dams downstream of St. Louis. Of the comments I read on the base post, the levee system makes the most sense to me.
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| 1 Eric Havemann: This one interested me enough to do a Google image search and I found the following: " A rather famous shot of the 3rd "Ste Genevieve", the Missouri-Illinois rail car ferry, which was retired in 1961. The Transfer Boat is seen with a steam engine pulling a cut of cars off the deck. The boat itself has two steam engines, one on each side, with dual paddlewheels. - David Beckermann Collection" |
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| 1 of 4 photos posted by Peter J. Reckling A rare occurrence from several years ago when the old Illinois Southern Railroad ferry ramp tracks in Ste. Genevieve, MO became re-exposed in low waters on the Mississippi River. The ferry services operated from 1902 to 1961 via several ferry boats. Shifting land and rise of the river after operations ceased caused the ramp track to be fully covered by the river. Seldom do they become visible, but amazing to see when they are. These photos are not mine. Please check out the link here for more info on the line from the Ste. Genevieve Museum Learning Center: |
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| Dallen Rhymer commented on Les' post Here is a good photo of what the landing looked like years ago. |
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| Dan Elder commented on Eric's comment on Photo 1 |
"The Sainte Genevieve-Modoc ferry provides the only Mississippi River crossing between Chester and Columbia [just south of the St. Louis area]. It also provides access to Sainte Genevieve, Missouri's oldest city. Filled with historic sites and interesting architecture, such as vertical log building, Ste. Genevieve has been designated a National Historic Park." [GreatRiverRoad-Illinois]
Note how much the river has moved.
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| 1940 Renault Quad over 1909 Weingarten Quad @ 62,500 |
About the title: "(UP)/MP/MI/ILS." As shown in the topo maps, the route was built by the Illinois Southern Railway. After it crossed the river from Illinois, it followed the Frisco south to Ste. Genevieve and then continued west. It is labelled Missouri-Illinois Railroad on my 1928 Railroad Atlas. So technically, I should label these notes "rrMisc." But MI was a subsididary of MoPac, so I use that as the label because it is more meaningful. UP has abandoned this route except for the spur from the SIMS+SSW route to the river. On a satellite map, it looks like there is still a rail-to-barge facility at the river end of this spur.
The M-I was formed in 1921 when the ILS went bankrupt because literally half the railroad sunk in 1920 when its steamship ferry sank. [trainweb]
"The ferry shuttled trains across the river until 1961. The river was projected to drop below 0 feet by Tuesday. The lowest it has gone this century is -1.28 feet on Jan. 2, 2013. The record is -4.30 feet Jan. 2, 1964, followed by -4.120 feet Dec.. 20, 1963." [stegenherald] (source)
"The ferry shuttled trains across the river until 1961. The river was projected to drop below 0 feet by Tuesday. The lowest it has gone this century is -1.28 feet on Jan. 2, 2013. The record is -4.30 feet Jan. 2, 1964, followed by -4.120 feet Dec.. 20, 1963." [stegenherald] (source)
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