Acker's Ferry

Acker’s Ferry
Located a few miles south of Porter’s Bluff and 5 miles northeast of Montfort was a Trinity river crossing called Aker’s Ferry. It was established during the wild early times before Texas statehood. Large herds of buffalo, antelope and deer roamed the region at this time. Some of the earliest adventurers like C. W. Winkler, Judge Reagan, Brit Dawson, Sam Frost, Buck and Augustus Barry crossed the Trinity at Aker’s Ferry into what would become Navarro County, Texas.
Boats ran on the Trinity several months of the year and Aker’s Ferry was a busy little establishment. The project of a navigable river was a failure. In 1899, fifty years after Navarro County was formed, the county commissioners’ court campaigned to erect a bridge across the Trinity. Ads ran in the Dallas Morning News for bids for a steel truss bridge and steel cable bridge so the commissioners’ court selected the most appropriate span. A Weatherford bridge building company was awarded the contract. Corsicana chose the Aker’s Ferry site for this bridge.
In the spring of 1908 the government dredged the Trinity. They used dynamite to rid the river of obstructions. In doing this they caused much damage to the bridge which put it in an unusable condition.

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Submitted by Dana Stubbs