During the mid-1850s, a ferry operated by John A. Taylor provided the only safe river crossing. Taylor trekked the Oregon Trail from Wisconsin in 1852 with his wife and three small children. Securing a donation land claim of 320 acres along this stretch of the river, he quickly installed a ferry and established a road between Portland and Dayton called Taylor’s Ferry Road. Taylor operated the ferry for several years before building a toll bridge in the late 1860s.
Credit: “A Bridge Over Time” from the City Of Tualatin.
