Site of Collier's Ferry

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the site of Collier's Ferry, out on the Old Jasper Road in Jefferson County. Pull over if you can, because this one's got some reach to it. We're talking about a river crossing that was already old when Texas was young.

The marker puts it in use as early as 1750, and by that point the route was already following Indian traces that nobody bothered to document because everybody just knew where they were. Explorer-settlers knew the way. Priests knew it.

Soldiers knew it. Traders from Spain, France, and Anglo-America all found their way to this same spot and crossed the same water. That's not a coincidence.

That's a crossing that earns its keep. The route ran along the Old Jasper Road and served as an alternate crossing on the Opelousas Trail, connecting Liberty through Beaumont all the way to Louisiana. Now, the Opelousas Trail is where this ferry really made its name.

From the 1820s to 1900, cattle herds came through here in numbers that would make your eyes water. The whole point was to bypass the streets of Beaumont, and this crossing made that possible. You bring a herd through a town, you've got chaos.

You bring them across Collier's Ferry, you've got commerce. The ferry ran a career stretching from 1831 all the way to 1950. Others operated it across those decades, that much the marker makes plain.

But the name that stuck, the name carved into history and onto this marker, belongs to the John Collier family, who ran the operation for fifty years. Fifty years of cattle, travelers, traders, and wanderers. The river kept moving, the herd kept coming, and the Collier name stayed right there on the bank to meet them.

What the marker says

Main crossing on Old Jasper Road and alternate crossing on Opelousas Trail from Liberty through Beaumont to Louisiana. Used as early as 1750, route followed Indian traces and was highway for explorer-settlers, priests, soldiers, traders from Spain, France and Anglo-America. Ferry's most important use was as cattle crossing on famous Opelousas Trail from 1820's to 1900. Herds came this way to bypass the streets of Beaumont. Although others ran it during 1831-1950 career, ferry took its name from John Collier family who operated it for 50 years. (1968)