Site Navigation:
Searchable Databases
Articles Archive
Pacific Nautical Heritage...
- Gallery of Light and Buoy Images
- Gallery of Mariners
- Gallery of Ship Images
- Gallery of Ship Wrecks
- Gallery of Monuments and Statues
- Gallery of Nautical Images
- Gallery of Freshwater Images
- Gallery of New Books
Canadian Naval Topics…
- Nautical History Videos
- UNTD
- British Columbia Heritage
- Arctic and Northern Nautical Heritage
- Western Canada Boat and Ship Builders
- Gallery of Arctic Images
- Reflections on Nautical Heritage
- British Columbia Heritage
Site Search:
Looking for more? Search for Articles on the Nauticapedia Site.
The Harrop–Proctor Cable Ferry
by John MacFarlane 2018
The Harrop–Proctor Ferry (Photo from the John MacFarlane collection.)
The Harrop ferry runs across Kootenay River, on Highway 3A, 24.5 kilometres northeast of Nelson and 8 kilometres west of Balfour to the communities of Harrop and Procter (on the south bank). Ferry capacity is 24 vehicles and 98 passengers. There is a vehicle and passenger ferry that connects the two sides. The ferry facility minimal. A concrete ramp serves as access that is bracketed by the cables anchored to the shore. There are anchor points on the shore that adjust the cables according to the fluctuating water levels in the river. The variation over the year is significant and requires constant adjustment.
The Harrop Proctor Ferry (Photo from the John MacFarlane collection.)
The community has created a small shelter facility on the Harrop side of the shore. It has an attractive carved sign to mark the location. Service hours are on demand, 24 hours per day. Crossing Time is 5 minutes. The operator is Western Pacific Marine.
The Harrop Proctor Ferry (Photo from the John MacFarlane collection.)
The hardware setup was almost identical to the other cable ferries that I had seen at other locations. The spring freshet was so high that the crew was speculating that there would not be enough slack in the cable to accommodate the high water levels.
The Harrop Proctor Ferry (Photo from the John MacFarlane collection.)
The Harrop Proctor Ferry (Photo from the John MacFarlane collection.)
There is a small engine driving the mechanism that crawls along the cable.
The Harrop Proctor Ferry (Photo from the John MacFarlane collection.)
Soon after my visit a new ferry, the Harrop II, was put into service. As far as I know the old vessel has been retired.
To quote from this article please cite:
MacFarlane, John (2018) The Harrop–Proctor Cable Ferry. Nauticapedia.ca 2018. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Harrop_Ferry.php
Site News: November 2, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,538 vessel histories (with 16,140 images and 13,887 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters). The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3989 images). Vessel records are currently being reviewed and updated with more than 35,000 processed so far this year.
Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he has contributed to illustrate British Columbia's floating heritage.
My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.
Also my special thanks to my volunteer content accuracy checker, John Spivey of Irvine CA USA, who continues (almost every day) to proof read thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 14,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.