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Ferry carries rich history across canal

By Bill Currie

St. Catharines Standard

Thursday, June 03, 2004 - 01:00

Local News - This is the fifth in a six-part series on the Welland Canal.

The order was placed by a hungry mariner aboard a luxury cruiser in the middle of the Welland Canal.

Twelve pizzas please. And step on it.

How to get the pizzas from shore to ship? It was the strangest cargo moved by the Port Robinson ferry last year.

“They had no other way of getting the food on,” said captain Rick Gorham, who operates the ferry service, which usually moves people and bicycles across the 100-metre canal.

This year — its 30th anniversary season — has only begun.

Gorham and his two employees started the year moving people and bicyclists, the usual.

The year also started with the usual rumour.

“Every year always starts with some rumour about the ferry service closing down,” said Gorham.

Gorham took over the service from his father 23 years ago.

Captain Richard Gorham Sr., a master mariner and commercial ship pilot, was in a hospital bed when he came up with the idea for a “temporary” ferry service to replace the Port Robinson lift bridge. The bridge was destroyed by the ore carrier Steelton on Aug. 25, 1974.

The temporary service became a full-time job to which the elder Gorham devoted himself, working an average of 84 hours a week. He retired in 1980 and died the following year.

After he retired, the service was briefly halted by the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority, which owned and maintained the ferry. It was replaced by a taxi shuttle, but was back in operation the following year, after lobbying by Welland-Thorold MPP Mel Swart.

The younger Gorham had already spent several summer weekends working on the ferry for his father by the time he took over the service at age 24.

The destruction of the bridge split the small Port Robinson community in half. Residents without access to vehicles had to find a way to get across the canal without going to the nearest crossings at Welland and Allanburg.

There was talk of replacing the bridge, but estimates over the years have proven to be too expensive. One estimate said the federal government would have had to pay $40 million for a new bridge.

The insurance payment from the collision didn’t even net enough to pay for the removal of the bridge from the canal, Gorham said.

Residents received no compensation despite claims for damages. And businesses suffered.

Gorham said a man who ran a gas station closed down the pumps and operated an automotive service only.

The ferry provides a small but vital link for Port Robinson residents, which number about 1,000.

Often, ferry pilots will find a cyclist at the dock, waiting for the first ferry trip across at 7 a.m. If the ferry operator is late for work, the people who depend upon it to get to work on their bikes are also late.

The twin-outboard powered aluminum pontoon boat is the third ferry in 30 years. Gorham designed and built it. It is the second to bear a name — Bridge-It — which came from a 1983 name-the-ferry contest.

On hot days, the ferry pilot often makes dozens of the one-minute trips. Demand is less when it’s raining.

“I’ve had as many as 60 to 70 bicycles and they’re all lined up,” he said.

In the winter months, Gorham runs a van service to shuttle people across.

With his two other ferry pilots and expenses, Gorham said the service isn’t a huge moneymaker. And it’s still a job that requires someone to be available 70 hours a week, including weekends and holidays.

But every year begins with that same, persistent rumour.

Like he could hear his father’s voice, Gorham didn’t hesitate when asked what his dad would say about the survival of the ferry?

“Good for you son.”