The plan to erect a new bridge across the Kentucky River at Irvine has recently been a topic of discussion. When construction is completed, Irvine will be served by twin spans. Having any bridge would have been a marvel to earlier inhabitants of the community. As incredulous as it seems, Irvine did not have a bridge during the first century of the town's existence.

From the beginning the River has been an important factor in the lives of Irvine's citizens. The location's close proximity to the river was a major consideration in the selection of the site. In addition to providing an everlasting source for water, the stream brimmed with fish and other delectables to supplement the pioneer diet.

The waterway also served as a means of transportation for the crude rafts that delivered Estill farm products, timber and iron ore to points down river. However, there were some negative aspects to the river. The problem of getting across the stream could be an arduous task for Irvine's first residents. In the early years the river had to be forded and that was a problem during periods of swift current. It was not always convenient to wait for the river to go down and urgent business often had to be left undone when the channel was at flood stage. So it was not long after the county was formed in 1808 that the first ferry opened.

Several early ferries carried people and cargo across the river during Irvine's formative years. The most enduring of these was established in January of 1813 by William Horn.

William's grandfather, Aaron Horn, died at Fort Boonesborough during the renowned Indian siege of 1778. His parents, Matthias Horn and Susan Hall, were married at Boone's Station in 1782. William Horn's uncle of the same name is the patriarch of nearly all of the Horns now living in Estill and Lee counties. William's mother was a sister to Edward Hall who was the progenitor of many of the Halls in Estill and Powell counties. The Horns were the original owners of much of the property that now contains West Irvine. Matthias and Susan are believed to be buried in the cemetery behind the Oak Tree Inn on Highway 52.

Horn's charter to operate a ferry across the Kentucky River required that the boat be forty feet long by seven feet wide and that it be staffed by two able bodied men. He further was required to give immediate passage to all people, messengers and express. The charter could be revoked if the operator failed to meet the standards.

William Horn operated the ferry until around 1831 when he sold out and moved to Missouri. Ironically, the Horns also were among the last families to operate a ferry in Estill County. Simpson Horn, whose great grandfather was a first cousin to the original ferryman, ran a ferry at Old Landing during the forties and fifties of this century.

The business was eventually acquired by the White family. The Whites ran the operation longer than any of the ferry proprietors. Daniel White, progenitor of the White family in West Irvine, acquired the ferry around 1835 and the family operated the business until after the Civil War.

When Daniel died in 1849, his wife Ruthy, by all accounts a shrewd business woman, ran the ferry until she turned the enterprise over to her son Richard in 1862. The White's residence, often referred to as the ferry house, stood where the McConkey house now stands near the West Irvine Memorial Gardens. The house became a target of the Union Army during a Civil War skirmish. The Rebel troops were positioned around the dwelling during an exchange of fire with the Federal soldiers defending Irvine. One of the White children, Robert Cobb White, was wounded in the leg and remained crippled for the rest of his life.

It was while the Whites operated the ferry that the infamous outlaw Ned Hawkins crossed while being chased by a posse from Madison County and rode away without paying the fare.

Richard White's son, Thomas A. White, was the final member of the White family to actually work on the ferry. Roy White, Thomas White's oldest son, was the last direct descendant of Daniel White to live in West Irvine. Roy earned his own place in history during the first World War. He was the flag bearer for the initial American contingent to cross the Rhine into occupied Germany at the conclusion of the War. His position at the head of the troops allowed him to become the first American to enter Germany. Roy, a highly respected member of the community, died in 1992 at the age of ninety-seven. Roy's younger brother, Charles A. White, continued the family tradition for being in the right place during great historic events. Charles was at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese bombing raid that began World War II.

Daniel and Ruthy Henry White are buried in the cemetery behind the Oak Tree Inn.

Samuel Congleton, probably the last proprietor of the Irvine ferry, was granted a charter to operate a ferry in 1908. Safety regulations were much stricter than a century earlier when the first ferry was chartered. New rules required that the ferry have headlights and reflectors. In addition there had to be two lifeboats available in case the ferry sank. However, prices remained reasonable. A one-way fare for a horse and rider was only a nickel. Pedestrian fares were three cents one way or five cents round trip.

Nearly all of the streams of any width were served by ferries in earlier years. A person traveling across the county might have to pay several ferry fees. One of the old barges sank at the mouth of Cow Creek and can still be seen during periods of low water.

A railroad trestle was built when the railroad came to Irvine during the last decade of the nineteenth century. Although the railroad owners discouraged pedestrian traffic, many people used the bridge to cross the river. If a train came along while they were on the long structure, they jumped onto the concrete pilings under the tracks until the train passed. The bridge stood until it was torn down for scrap iron during World War II.

The ferry was eventually replaced by a toll bridge built by a group of speculators as a business venture in 1910. Many older Estill residents can remember when the toll bridge was in operation. The tolls for the bridge were similar to the fees charged by the ferry, but the bridge was much faster and the ferry eventually ceased operations.

In 1931, the Fiscal Court petitioned the state government to either buy the old toll bridge and make it a toll free span or to build a new public bridge. The state opted for a new structure. The new connection across the Kentucky River at Irvine was opened for traffic in 1940. That span still stands and is known as the New Irvine Bridge. After waiting more than one and a quarter centuries to get a decent bridge, someone surely could have come up with a more imaginative name. In any event, the bridge will need to be renamed in the near future when the proposed span is erected.

The county built a single lane free bridge that connected Madison Avenue to South Irvine in the late twenties. But it was a flimsy structure and not safe for heavy loads. It too was salvaged for scrap iron during the war.

Perhaps the most compelling bridge story is about a bridge that never was. A sad tale of a bridge constructed across the Kentucky River that never carried traffic. In the 1930s, a span was built in one of the more remote areas of the county above Old Landing. Just as the structure was completed a great flood washed it away. People living near the bridge watched anxiously as drifting logs and other flotsam piled up behind the bridge. In time the span was wrenched from its pilings with a great shriek and disappeared into the river. The project was abandoned, but the great iron pilings remain as edifices to man's folly and nature's power.

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Joseph Proctor, noted Indian fighter and Methodist preacher, is perhaps Estill County's most famous historic figure. He was born around 1755 in Rowan County, NC, and later emigrated with several of his brothers to the wilderness in the extreme eastern portion of the state.

He was among the first people to settle on the Holston River located in present day Washington County, North Carolina. While living on the Holston, two important events occurred in his life that would have future consequences for Estill County.

First, he married Polly Horn, daughter of Aaron Horn, progenitor of the Horn family in Estill County. Secondly, he enlisted in the Virginia Militia that was formed by Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia in 1778 to defend Fort Boonesborough at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. The establishment of Boonesborough in 1774 was perceived by the Indians as an encroachment on their territory. Soon after the fort was established, the colonists broke with England and the British teamed with the Indian nations to dislodge the settlers from their toehold in Kentucky.

Since the arrival of the Proctors and the Horns in Virginia coincided with the founding of the first settlements in the Blue Grass, they were positioned in the right place at the right time to participate in the historic events that were about to unfold. By January of 1778, the situation became critical when Daniel Boone and two dozen men from Boonesborough were captured by the Indians and the survival of the fledgling settlement became cause for concern among the members of the Virginia General Assembly in Williamsburg.

In response, Governor Patrick Henry formed a military unit out of the men in Washington County, including Joseph Proctor and his Horn in-laws, and ordered the unit to Kentucky to protect the settllements. The soldiers and other members of their family left for the three hundred mile journey to Boonesborough in the dead of winter. This trek to Fort Boonesborough was completed under the most difficult conditions imaginable. Most of the adults walked every step of the way, often carrying small children over steep mountains and across numerous icy rivers and streams. The route followed was known as the Wilderness Road but in reality it was no more than a series of buffalo traces and Indian trails that were hardly fit for hiking and were ill suited for wagons and carts. In addition to being exposed to the harsh winter elements, the trekkers had to be constantly on guard against an ambush from the Indians.

Unfortunately, conditions did not improve much for the weary travelers when they reached Fort Boonesborough in April of 1778. The inhabitants of the fort had been through a difficult time since Boone and his men were captured and had little in the way of comforts to offer the new arrivals. The residents had been unable to get in a crop due to the constant activity of the Indians and food was in short supply. In addition, the compound was not a very pleasant place to live. Quarters inside the stockade were cramped, thick mud covered the parade ground area and the unsanitary conditions created an offensive smell that pervaded the compound. Many people lacked adequate clothing to provide protection from the elements and in some cases to even protect their modesty. As bad as things were, living conditions were the least of the settlers concerns. In the months following the arrival of the Washington County contingent, the fort withstood the most furioius Indian siege in American history.

After the Shawnees captured Boone and his party at the salt lick, the captives were taken to the main Indian camp near present day Dayton, Ohio. The prisoners were accorded good treatment and several were actually adopted as Shawnees by their captors. However, their kinfolk and friends back in the fort did not know how they had fared and were very anxious about their safety. After the troops from Virginia arrived, they made several raids across the Ohio River in a vain attempt to free the captives. Ironically, some of the soldiers who accompanied the raiding party to the Miami River Valley were the vanguard for the hordes of their Estill County descendants that would flock to the area one hundred and fifty years later. Eventually Boone overheard the Indians discussing a raid on Fort Boonesborough and made a daring escape back to the fort in time to warn the colonists of the impending attack. Thanks to Boone's timely alarm, the fort was able to withstand a nine-day siege in what turned out to be the most important battle ever fought between American settlers and the Indians.

After the Indians and the British were repelled at Boonesborough, they would never again seriously challenge the westward expansion of the American nation where retrenchment was even a remote possibility. Had the Indians and British forced the settlers out of Kentucky they could have set in motion a series of events that could have detrimentally effected the eventual American victory in the Revolutionary War. Had the colonists lost the war, the history of the United States probably would have been significantly altered.

The Indians continued to raid south of the Ohio River until the end of the war, but after September of 1778 the survival of the settlements in Kentucky was assured. It is believed that several of the Proctors and most of Aaron Horn's family were in the fort during the siege. At one point, the Indians requested that the women in the fort be paraded before the gate so that they could get their first glimpse of white women. The fort's defenders complied with their request to buy time and the women strutted their stuff before the assembled Indians. It is not known for certain what affect this display had on the Indians but they soon gave up the struggle and returned to Ohio.

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