Aboard the Anderson Ferry
'As long as I can remember, there's been the ferry boat'

By Ryan Clark
Enquirer staff writer


BY THE NUMBERS:
45: Approximate number of cars that cross per hour

$3.25: Price for a car to travel on the ferry one-way

189: Number of years the ferry has been open

160: Approximate number of times the ferry crosses a day

18: Approximate number of cars the ferry can hold

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Patrick Reddy/The Enquirer

Captain Jim Staab pilots The Little Boone across the Ohio River at the Anderson
Ferry. He's been working at the Anderson Ferry for 13 years.


As dawn breaks on this part of the Ohio River, Paul Anderson is working the good
part of the job.

The space heater hums in the corner, and the waves slap against the boat's
sides. He steers, guiding the boat, making the rudders turn.

This is his life.

"As long as I can remember, there's been the ferry boat," says the 58-year-old
Anderson, his large frame saddled into a large pilot's chair. "People might say
this seems boring, going back and forth, but to me, it's nice."

But Anderson's life hasn't always been this calm.

"I'll never claim that I've seen it all," he says. "But I've seen a few things."

Getting the job

It began when Anderson was just 12 years old, living in nearby Constance on the
Kentucky side of the river.

"We lived on my father's income," Anderson says, scratching his gray beard. "He
was a carpenter, supporting me, my two brothers and my mom. Sometime during that
year he found out he lost his job, so he committed suicide. I guess he was
stressed - but we never thought he would do that."

His father was just 37.

Anderson turns the silvery arm tiller, which steers the boat between
Cincinnati's Riverside neighborhood and northern Boone County.

"That was back when women didn't work," he says. "So my mom went and took a job
as a substitute mail carrier. A year later, Mr. Kottmeyer came to talk to me."

That was Henry Kottmeyer, then-owner of the ferry and a friend of the family.
"He asked if I wanted a job," Anderson says.

Throughout high school, Anderson worked as a deckhand, earning money to help his
family. He watched each day as men - always men - drove their cars onto the
ferry to go to their jobs and support their own families.

"I always noticed that," Anderson says.

Called back to the ferry

As Anderson talks, his deckhand comes into the cabin. It's Ruben Berra, a
60-year-old from Mexico City who has been working for the ferry for 18 months.
Berra, who spent time teaching in other countries before he and his wife moved
to Kentucky, has an infectious smile and a warm handshake. He is in charge of
taking money from the ferry passengers.

Anderson says each of the three boats that run requires a pilot and a deckhand.

The boats can carry a maximum of 18 regular-sized cars across the river, for
$3.25 per ride - up from $3 last year. Anderson says the increase is due to
increasing fuel and salary costs.

Berra only smiles and drinks coffee. The two eat breakfast bars together.

"This is a beautiful job for me," Berra says, bundled in a heavy coat and
gloves. "I love being outside and I love nature. The only bad time is when it
rains."

After high school, Anderson attended classes at a community college, but he
tired of it and left. He then tried to decide what he wanted to do with his
life. An eye injury kept him from being drafted - and the Armed Forces was
something he wanted to do - so he worked building houses for a time.

"I never knew what I wanted, even at 24, I had no idea," Anderson says.

But something kept calling him back to the river, back to the ferry.

An icon on the water

Anderson knows the history of the ferry well.

The Anderson Ferry, an area icon since 1817, began when Raleigh Colston sold one
ferry and 103 acres in Kentucky to George Anderson for about $350. In 1865,
Charles Kottmeyer bought the ferry and two acres in Kentucky for $2,800.

In 1867, the first steam ferry, Boone No. 1, replaced ferries that generated
power by having horses walk on treadmills.

Today, Anderson owns Boone Nos. 7, 8 and 9, all diesel-powered. And the ferry is
just one of four known ferries left in Kentucky.

Anderson - who is certain he is a distant relative of the original George
Anderson - and his wife, Deborah, bought the ferry from the Kottmeyer family in
1986.

'Who will take over?'

As the cars line up on either side of the bank, Berra pops back into the pilot's
cabin.

He warms his hands and takes a drink of coffee. The early sun shines on the
water.

"One great thing about this job is that every day, we read from the Bible,"
Berra says.

With that, he pulls a Bible from a shelf and opens it to Psalm 144.

"Send thine hand from above . . . and deliver me out of great waters," he reads.

Anderson listens and smiles. Over the past hour, about 45 cars have passed over
the river.

"The business gets a little slower during the winter," Anderson says. "There
aren't as many people going to Grandma's or visiting others as there are in the
summer."

He normally pilots boats from 6 to 9 a.m., then lets someone else take over. He
then spends the rest of the day working the administrative part of his job.

Anderson is not sure what he will do when it is time for him to retire. He
figures he has a few years to think about it. Still, he wonders.

"Who will take over?" he says.

His daughters, 25-year-old Melanie and 22-year-old Stephanie, have other
interests. But his son, 16-year-old Justin, has worked on the ferry.

"I'd like to see what he wants to do," Anderson says. "You never know. God's
been good to me and supported me all my life, I'll let him decide. But I suppose
my wife and I could sell the business."

He looks out over the water.

"That would be a hard thing to do."

For more information on the Anderson Ferry, call (859) 586-5007.

E-mail rclark@nky .com

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...0103/601220416
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On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 18:19:05 +0000, Garrison Hilliard wrote:

Aboard the Anderson Ferry
'As long as I can remember, there's been the ferry boat'

They jam 'em tight on there, too.

I'm told that the majority of the passengers are people who live on the west
side of Cincinnati and use the ferry to get to their jobs at the airport. On the
Kentucky side, the ferry dumps you out right at the intersection of KY 8 and KY
20, and KY 20 goes up the hill (lots of switchbacks) and deposits you right at
I-275 and the airport.


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Always did love the old anderson ferry.
Every so often they talk about selling it and sure enough somebody
comes along and keeps it going.
Wonder it it will hit the 200 year mark?