Story by Michael Perry, with assistance from Mike Clark ..... In the early 1900s, the only way to move automobiles across the major rivers was by ferry. History tells us there were many such ferries in the 1800s that transported horse-drawn wagons and, later, automobiles. One of the most amazing ferries carried an entire train from Goble, Oregon, across the Columbia to Kalama, Washington; the train ferry operated from 1883 until 1908, when a railroad bridge was built across the Columbia from Portland to Vancouver.