by Gordon Cummings 
January 31, 1990 
The Genoa-King Ferry Tribune 

Ferry boats shuttled back and forth across Cayuga Lake for over one hundred years. Along Route 89 on the west side of the lake there is a
state historical marker that reads: "Site of Frisbee's Ferry - A Now Extinct Hamlet with Store, Mills, Distillery, Tavern and Ferry to Aurora,
1796". At that time, Cayuga County included what later became Seneca County. As Aurora was the county seat, there was a clear need for a
ferry at this point. 

The last ferry boat on this lake, the Busy Bee, was intentionally sunk off Kidder's Landing in 1914. Thus, the ferry boat era was continuous for
one hundred and eighteen years. 

On the east side of the lake, John King 2nd established the first ferry from that side in the early years of 1800. It was a simple skiff with sail
that shoved off from his log house and tavern near the lake shore. This was replaced by a larger sail boat and a dock built about one mile
north of King's place at a point that came to be called Clearview and King's Ferry Station with the advent of the railroad in the 1970's. There
is no record of either the Frisbee or King ferries being authorized by the State of New York. This distinction belongs to John Harris, who in
1808-09 was granted a franchise to operate a ferry Out of Cayuga Village. 

Six years later, in 1816, another franchise was granted to the officers and directors of the Fifth Great Western Turnpike, that terminated on
the land of Matthew Tillotson, Town of Genoa, and Jasper Shuth, Town of Ovid, to operate a ferry across the lake. It is not clear just where
their docks were located, as the legislation permitted them to cover a broad area that coincided with where their ands met the lake shore.
Three years later (1819), the first Horse boat ferry was built by James Kidder from the west side, and Tillotson and David Ogden from the
east side. An advertisement in an Auburn paper at the time reads: 

"We furnish good horses (to propel the treadmill) and exper- ienced hands. The crossing will take between 20 and 40 minutes. The boat
carries eight wagons and twenty horses. The distance from Albany via Cherry Valley, Sherburne and Homer is 160 miles, and from Albany to
Cayuga Bridge via Utica, is 178 miles - and it is presumed that the turnpike ferry is even better than any other great road leading into the
western country. Persons traveling from the east to Bath, Angeica, Lake Erie, New Connecticut, etc., will find it for their interest to cross at
this ferry. The rates of toll are the same as have been established and taken for eighteen years past, with said boats." 

In 1825 Amos Goodwin from Ovid joined Kidder, Tillotson and Ogden in replacing horse power with steam to propel a boat in calm waters.
The rates for ferriage were announced as $1.50 for a four- wheeled vehicle drawn by two horses or mules; 25 cents for every head of neat or
fatting cattle, and 6 cents each for hogs or sheep. One notable difference in the franchise for this boat was that ho other ferry could be
launched within one-half mile from their landing sites. And they obtained the longest fran- chise yet awarded, fourteen years, presumably to
allow them a longer time to recover their cost for installing the more ex- pensive steam power. 

Over the next sixty years (1826-86), several state laws were passed to support ferry boats on Cayuga Lake: 1826 - a ferry was authorized
out of Union Spring; 1827 - a dock was authorized at Sheldrake and the Polly Ann was built there; 1828 - another ferry was opera- ted from
Griggsport (Levanna) to Romulus by Samuel Griggs, A. Foote and Ebenezer Goff; 1829 - J. McLallen operated between Frog's Point to
Woodward's or Countrymen's Landing on Lot 68 in Lansing; 1836 - Stephen Mosher operated out of Union Springs and William Carman
was permitted to operate between Frog's Point and Lansing; 1844 - Ira Almy of Covert and Horace C. Tracy of Ovid appear to have taken
over the operation of Goodwin, Tillotson, and Ogden between King's Ferry and Kidder's Landing. With the increasing competition, ferriage
rates were reduced. This year also marked the first time that no names,, from the east side of the lake are associated with the ferry business.
In 1871 the franchise at King's Ferry-Kidder crossing was made to Peter Fish, who joined Horace Tracey; 1879 - Peter Carr operated a
ferry between Union Springs and Canoga; 1881 - Issac Farmer operated from Cayuga Bridge; 1882 - James V. Quick from Kidder's took
over the operation of the Poily Ann from this father, Henry, using one horse and sails. This boat replaced the A. M. Shaw, which, in turn, had
replaced the Cayuga, the name given to the earlier horse ferry. 

In 1884 James Quick started building a large steamboat with sails for use as a ferry. It was designed and built by James Bennett of Sheldrake,
measuring 66' overall, with a 17 foot beam and gunwales that were four feet high. When docked, her gunwales aft were let down on shore for
greater ease in boarding. This boat was christened the Busy Bee and launched from Kidder's in 1886, when Quick obtained a twenty year
franchise to operate between Cole's Landing at Kidder's and King's Ferry. The franchise stipulated that no other ferry could operate within a
two mile distance in either direction from Kidder's. Additionally, Quick obtained a mail contract of $100 per year to transport mail across the
lake four times each week to the train that was now in operation along the east shore, stopping at King's Ferry. 

As Quick lived on the west shore, he needed some way to communicate with people on the east shore who would like to use his ferry service.
So he erected a large wooden panel on the high bank on the east side. One side was painted black, the other white. When tile white side
faced west, it apparently could be seen a distance of two miles, and Captain Quick, as he came to be known, would stoke up the steam
engine or set sail to cross the lake. 

The mail contract required year around service. This was undoubtedly another reason for locating the ferry near the center of the lake.
Because of its greater depth, it did not freeze over as early or often as it did to the north or south. However, in 1885, one year before
launching the Busy Bee, the lake did freeze over at this point, and the Captain told the story of how he skated back and forth with the mail. In
1903 the mail contract was discontinued as Rural Free Delivery came to this part of the country. 

The Busy Bee continued in service for several more years, taking grpups on excursions around the lake. There is a newspaper picture taken
around 1900 that shows a German band from Brooklyn aboard the boat on an outing. Then there was George Westinghouse and other
Wealthy people with summer homes along the lake who utilized the boat serviee of Captain Quick for pleasure cruises. After the Frontenac
burned in 1907, the Busy Bee was called upon to provide some of the shorter distance services between points near the center of the lake.
Naomi Craft Brewer's great-grandmother kept a diary in which she noted the goings and comings of Captain Quick and - his boat. After
visiting her a few years ago, she sent me a notation from her great-grand- mother's diary that indicates that in the final years before the Busy
Bee was sunk at Kidder's, it had operated between Cayuga and Canoga, possibly by Joe Hamilton, a long-time boat pilot a few years
younger than Cap- tam Quick. 

Captain Quick estimated that he had made 40,000 crossings of Cayuga Lake. Using a horse for propulsion took him one hour; by steam,
one-half hour; and by sail, when conditions were ideal, he said he had crossed in nine minutes. The largest load he ever carried was a Quaker
funeral party consisting of fourteen horses, 10 carriages, and 83 passenger. James Quick died at the age of 91 in 1946, and was buried in
Lakeview Cemetery at Interlaken. The boat he piloted for twenty- eight years ?ests at the bottom of the lake near the house in which he lived,
and which Is still standing. The ruins can be seen from the shore in late winter when the lake level is at its lowest seasonal mark. 

In Carol. Sisler's recent book, "Cayuga Lake - Its Past, Present and Future", there is a mention that the Busy Bee, at least once, transported
automobiles. An auto tour enroute from Watkins Glen to Syracuse, drove to Kidder's and took the ferry to King's Ferry, continuing to
Syracuse. 

Is the time approaching when ferry boat service will be reestablished across the center of Cayuga Lake? As a tourist route, to begin with, it
could become an attraction on a scenic rural drive that followed the road of the early Fifth Great Western Turnpike from Cooperstown west
to Cayuga Lake, via Homer and Cortland, Locke, Genoa, to a new dock at King's Ferry. 

Sources: Research Notes of Ferry Boat Franchises - E. Kabelac; 

Between The Lakes -undated - Maurice Patterson; 

Cayuga Republican - Auburn, April 27, 1819; 

Cayuga Lake Boating - Bob Robinson; 

File Notes and Unlabeled News Clips - Genoa Historical Association; 

"Cayuga Lake - Past - Present - Future", Enterprise Publishing, Ithaca, NY 1989.