Ste. Genevieve Little Rock Landing

     Last Thursday, thanks to Melvin Hensen taking me, I was able to go to Ste. Genevieve, MO while the Mississippi River was at such a low level. With it being at such a level I was able to see the last remaining remnants of the Little Rock Transfer Ferry Incline.

     The first spike for the incline had been driven on July 10, 1901, for the ferry landing at Little Rock, which now is named Thomure, Missouri. With the Southern Missouri Railroad Company as the construction company, Little Rock became the entrance of the Southern Illinois Railroad into the western states. Opening vast opportunities of expanding their coal market, also, allowing Missouri’s Lead Belt the opportunity of the eastern markets.

Little Rock Incline

Permission to use by Angel Gasler

     Little Rock had gotten its name due to there being a large rock or boulder that sat off in the water approximately 15 to 20 feet from shore where the incline was to be built. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers used explosives to remove the rock to allow the ferries to have a clearer path to shore. 

     The Transfer Ferry, Ste. Genevieve ran from 1904 until 1918 when it sank at Kellogg Incline on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River.

     It was on January 4, 1918, ice gorges, which had formed on the banks of Mississippi River north of Little Rock Landing, started breaking free. As the large blocks of ice began floating down the river, warnings were set out of the approaching ice. The Illinois Southern’s Pile Driver was struct and badly damaged, sinking at its moorings, while the transfer boat, was hit and badly damaged also.

S.S. Ste Genevieve No. 1 partially sunk at Kellogg Incline, IL March 1, 1918

Image Courtesy of Murphy Library Special Collections,

University of Wisconsin – La Crosse

    The Ste. Genevieve II was purchased in 1921. It was powered by six boilers and had a twenty-eight-foot paddle wheel. It was 286’ long and 86 foot long and could carry up to 18 railroad cars.

Transfer Ferry the Ste. Genevieve II Making Approach Little Rock Landing

Used with permission of Barbara Basler Collection

The above picture shows the Ste. Genevieve II approaching the incline ready to unload the railcars.

     The transfer ferry would attach to the incline tracks where the locomotive would back down with an empty freight car called an idler or space car to not put the excessive weight of the locomotive onto the transfer ferry and then attach the railcar pulling them off three at a time.

     While loading, the process would be the same as the center track loaded first. The transfer ferry would then be winched from side to side to load the sidetracks so the ferry would remain balanced.

Used By Permission from the David Beckermann Collection

     The Ste. Genevieve III ran until 1922 when the railroad discontinued its service in June of 1961.

     With over sixty-three years of unuse and deterioration this is all that is left of the incline.

    Over the years I have tried to get down the river to capture some pictures of the last remaining pieces of this piece of fading history. Thanks Melvin, for taking me the pictures I have wanted so badly for a while now.

Looking down how the ferry would approach the incline.