Orange County – All Things Sabine

Time Travel Backwards Style: Ferries on the Sabine

We received a request regarding photos and information on ferries which operated on the Sabine River before the bridges were built (most of the bridges that were added on the Sabine River were built in the 1930s). So I rounded up all the photos I had and grabbed up a few old newspaper articles and here they are. If anyone has additional photos, I would love love love to share them! They are really invaluable and I get so excited any time I come across one.

Pendleton Gaines Ferry. Not sure of the year, but was pre 1937. This photo was shared with ATS by Donna Owens Jones

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Wild and Wide Open… The showboat Harry Lee was once “one of the roughest spots” on the Sabine River

Photograph of the Steamboat Harry Lee - later to be the Showboat - docked across the Sabine River on old Highway 90. Used as a gambling establishment in the late 1920s. Photo from Portal to Texas History, crediting Heritage House Museum, Orange, Texas. — Photograph of the Steamboat Harry Lee – later to be the Showboat – docked across the Sabine River on old Highway 90. Used as a gambling establishment in the late 1920s. Photo from Portal to Texas History, crediting Heritage House Museum, Orange, Texas.

Some people know of it. Most do not. It was the Steamboat Harry Lee, a steamboat which once was docked on the Sabine River and was used as a gambling establishment.

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