Cassville Car Ferry

Traveling far from the coast we inhabit—on a summer road trip to the middle of the country—we did not expect the opportunity to get on a boat. But one day in Wisconsin Karen was studying the tourism guide and discovered a car ferry across the Mississippi River. It was, perhaps, not the most efficient way to get to Mason City, Iowa (the farthest west we made it on this trip), but we knew we had to take it. Looking southwest toward Iowa, we saw the ferry approach the landing on the Wisconsin side:

The Cassville car ferry holds fewer than a dozen cars (or one tractor-trailer) and makes the one-mile trip to Nowheresville, Iowa, in about 15 minutes. Instead of your typical ferry that goes back and forth without turning around, this one has a jointed wheelhouse/engine combo that pivots 180 degrees. Here’s a close-up of the joint that attaches the wheelhouse to the car float:

And this is a view of it once the ferry is straightened out and headed for the other side:

On the Iowa side of the Mississippi, waiting for some upriver traffic to clear, was Marquette Transporation‘s Myra Eckstein (140 feet long, 4200 horsepower, built in 1974) pushing several loaded barges:

This was the view downstream toward Dubuque, Davenport, Muscatine and beyond:

The motto on the Iowa state flag sums it up neatly:

Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain

You can read all about the Cassville car ferry here (click to enlarge):

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