The use of the ferry was confined to foot-passengers entirely at first;
and afterwards, when larger boats were built, chaises were allowed, as the
common riding or travelling vehicle of the time. It would seem that double
tolls had been demanded on certain days; and in 1783, when the names of
the ferrymen were presented to the town for approval, it was agreed, on
their not taking double ferriage on those days, and their faithful promise
to the same, to approbate them. It seems almost wonderful--but it is a
fact--that this ferry was kept up as the sole means of communication,
excepting the journey around through Roxbury and Cambridge, for more than
one hundred and fifty years. It was over this ferry that the people came
to Boston to assist in the fortification upon Corne Hill (Fort Hill) in
May, 1632, and at other times for similar purposes. It was over this ferry
also, on the 18th of April, 1689, that the troops came, in the time of the
Andros Rebellion, to assist in maintaining the rights of the people at
this early period in the history of the town. There were twenty companies
in Boston, and it was said about fifteen hundred men at Charlestown that
could not get over. Andros was imprisoned, the first charter of the colony
dissolved, and Thomas Danforth came in as deputy-governor. On many other
occasions during the long period of its continuance, and in cases of fire
in Boston, the ferry had large duties to perform; and it is wonderful how
it was ever made to answer its purposes for so long a time.
1741.--Oldmixon, in his "History of the British Empire in America" ("The
History of New England," as a part of it is called), says, "Charlestown,
the mother of Boston, is much more populous than Cambridge, and exceeds it
much in respect of trade, being situated between two rivers, Mystic River
and Charles River, and parted from Boston only by the latter, over which
there is a ferry so well tended that a bridge would not be much more
convenient, except in winter, when the ice will neither bear nor suffer a
boat to move through it. Though the river is much broader about the town,
it is not wider in the ferry passage than the Thames between London and
Southwark. The profits of this ferry belong to Harvard College in
Cambridge, and are considerable. The town is so large as to take up all
the space between the two rivers."
In 1763, April, the running of a stage-coach was commenced between Boston
and Portsmouth, N.H., once a week,--out on Friday, and return on Tuesday.
It is said, that, "owing to the trouble of ferrying the stage and horses
over Charles River, they were kept at Charlestown, at the sign of the
Three Cranes." The practice with this, and very likely other stage-lines,
probably continued until the bridge was built.
The memorable night, April 18, 1775, when Paul Revere crossed Charles
River, near the ferry, is of course well remembered. During the occupation
of Boston Harbor by the British navy, the boats of the ferry were drawn up
alongside the men-of-war every night at nine o'clock, and there was no
passing after that hour; but it seems that Revere kept a boat of his own
at the north end, and employed two men to row him across, "a little to the
eastward where the 'Somerset' man-of-war lay." He landed at Charlestown
below the ferry, and says, "I told them what was acting, and went to get
me a horse," and then pursued his momentous ride to Lexington.
Imagine the continuance of this ferry, as the usual means of crossing the
river between Boston and Charlestown, for a period of more than one
hundred and fifty years! and all this time probably without the use of
sails, as the stream at this point was very narrow and the currents very
strong, and certainly without the power of steam, now so generally applied
to ferries all over the country. There was, no doubt, in the winter
season, a good deal of passing on the ice. The Winnisimmet Ferry, for many
years prior to the introduction of steam, was operated by the use of large
sail-boats for foot-passengers only.
It is said that the Indian name of Charles River was Quimobequin, and that
on Capt. Smith's map of 1614, it is called Massachusetts; and Hutchinson
says, "Prince Charles gave the name of Charles river to what had been
before called Massachusetts river." Smith himself says he called it
Charles River; still Hutchinson may be right.