Pulling the load: Los Ebanos Ferry

Take me back to a gentler time when people used a rope and a ferry to get across the Rio Grande. No, wait, such a thing still exists — the Los Ebanos Ferry, the last hand-operated ferry on the Rio Grande, just three miles off Expressway 83/I-2 near Sullivan City on FM 886. The days of the bootleggers have given way to drug smugglers but the historical ambience is still there.

The ferry closes every so often due to high water levels on the river, but most of the time, it’s making the crossing back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico close to 100 times a day.

Located approximately halfway between Mission and Rio Grande City (closer to Mission), the ferry was shut down earlier this year for approximately four months because the captain didn’t have his necessary license in hand.

Now back in the water, the ferry remains a throwback to a more laid-back point in Valley history.

Its genesis dates back to 1852 when it was originally named Las Cuevas Ferry, licensed by Hidalgo County, founded that very year, for the grand sum of $5 per month.

Before the ferry turned into a legit business enterprise, this spot in the river was a popular crossing ford for Indians and Spanish colonists in the early 17th century when they weren’t busy killing one another. The Spaniards named it Cuevas after the many caves dotting the surrounding scrub-brush hills along the river.

In 1874, the Los Ebanos Ferry crossing became the scene of a bloody shootout between famous (some called him infamous) Texas Ranger Captain L. H. McNelly and a wealthy Mexican rancher named General Juan Flores Salinas, whom McNelly accused of rustling Texas cattle and then storing them on his Las Cuevas Ranch. The general lost the battle, but McNelly lost his own life three years later to TB at the relatively young age of 33.

Prohibition and Smugglers

During the U.S. prohibition era of the 1920s until its end came about in 1933, the Los Ebanos Ferry locale became known as Smugglers’ Crossing for obvious reasons. According to a story posted at TexasEscapes.com, tequiladores brought Mexican bootleg liquor into Texas via pack mules and the ferry.

In 1950, the first border inspection station was planted at Los Ebanos. Sixty years later, after the river flooding washed away part of the old federal facility, thanks to tropical storm Alex, a new single inspection station was constructed.

Today, the Los Ebanos Ferry remains the only hand-drawn ferry still in operation along the U.S./Mexico border, separating the two towns — Los Ebanos on the U.S. side and Diaz Ordaz on the Mexican side – with a mere 70 yards of flowing water between them. At its max, it can accommodate three cars and 12 pedestrians. The current ferry has been in operation since 1979, four years after the site was recognized with the placement there of a state historical marker.

On a quiet, lazy summer afternoon, however, sitting on the banks of the Rio Grande, watching the five men pull the Los Ebanos Ferry, it’s pretty easy to hearken one’s thoughts back to the old days when the Indians were crossing here; the Spanish colonialists following in their footsteps around the same time; the Texas Rangers a hundred or so years later in the 1870s when they were trading rounds with Mexican banditos; and then on into the 1920s when the moonshine bootleggers were plying their trade, crossing the river under cover of darkness, much like the drug and human-cargo smugglers today, trying to stay one step ahead of federal authorities.

The Los Ebanos Ferry, a step back in time — it’s worth seeing.