As If Time Stood Still
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The Los Ebanos Ferry is the only existing hand-operated ferry on the U.S.-Mexican border.
The privately owned and operated ferry carries three cars at a time. In 1975, the ferry was recognized with a state historical marker. |
The ferry crosses the Rio Grande River from an area of ebony trees located approximately 14 miles west of McAllen on U.S. 83 and 3 miles south on FM 886.
No steel bridge or wide lanes jammed with semi-trucks span the river. Instead, a small ferry shuttles pedestrians and cars, three at a time, between the sandy banks of both countries.
It is powered only by five men pulling a rope and remains the last international ferry crossing on the southern U.S. border. "It's almost as if time has stood still, and it continues to operate and function," said Ed Reyna Jr., the son of the farmer and local politician who started the ferry in 1950.
There has always been chatter among locals about replacing the ferry that spans this narrow section of the river with a more efficient bridge, but no plans have ever gotten off the ground, so the ferry just continues to run as it always has.
It operates seven days a week, weather permitting, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. If it's too rainy or windy or late in the day, crossers have to drive about a half hour to Rio Grande City.
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Rio Grande Valley Texas Travel Information Center where travel professionals can assist you with road conditions, trip planning, routings, points of interest and events. For local or regional information, please contact the respective center or call (800) 452-9292 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily to talk to a travel counselor. Automated road conditions are available 24 hours a day.
| Even in an age of laser visas and aerial drone patrols, this sleepy spot where the United States and Mexico meet on the Rio Grande has barely changed in two generations. |
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No steel bridge or wide lanes jammed with semi-trucks span the river. Instead, a small ferry shuttles pedestrians and cars, three at a time, between the sandy banks of both countries. It is powered only by five men pulling a rope and remains the last international ferry crossing on the southern U.S. border.
"It's almost as if time has stood still, and it continues to operate and function," said Ed Reyna Jr., the son of the farmer and local politician who started the ferry in 1950.
There has always been chatter among locals about replacing the ferry that spans this narrow section of the river with a more efficient bridge, but no plans have ever gotten off the ground, so the ferry just continues to run as it always has.
It operates seven days a week, weather permitting, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. If it's too rainy or windy or late in the day, crossers have to drive about a half hour to Rio Grande City.
Michelle Roberts, contributing editor