The "yellow elephant," barring no more mishaps, is expected to make its maiden voyage across Franklin Roosevelt Lake next month.
This is the affectionate name given by impatient riders to the Columbia Princess, the third generation of ferries to ply the nearly three-mile route between Inchelium on the Colville Indian Reservation and Gifford located 80 miles northwest of Spokane.
Painted a bright yellow with a red racing stripe, the $1.7 million Columbia Princess has sat idle on the banks of the Columbia River reservoir since July, flirting with riders as they cling to the rolling deck of the old, soon-to-be retired ferry — the USS Kohler.
Originally scheduled to enter service in mid-June, the Columbia Princess arrived late by truck from Fisherman's Boat Shop in Everett, Wash. It took longer to truck the ferry than Bureau of Indian Affairs Officials had thought. Put into the water at Lincoln, it was floated up to Inchelium.
High water caused further delays and other mechanical problems kept the gleaming ferry clinging to the bank.
In September, the ferry was operated for the first time. The only problem was that the controls were backwards.
"It took a month to get the steering synchronized. In September we operated the ferry for the first time and found that the steering controls were backward," Bureau of Indian Affairs Road Engineer Chane Salois explained.
With any luck, Salois said he hopes to have the Princess operating by mid-December.
Service on the new ferry will not come too soon for either the growing number of passengers on the free, BIA operated ferry, or the seven-member ferry crew.
The number of people riding the Inchelium Ferry in the past two months increased by 30 and 40 percent. A rock slide on Sept. 11 has made travel on the Inchelium-Kettle Falls road impossible.
That road used to give drivers an alternative to the ferry which can, at worst, mean a half hour wait. The road allowed drivers to travel up the west side of the river to the Kettle Falls bridge.
That slide, which has been deemed an "act of God" by road officials, may keep the road closed a long time. Governor John Spellman declared a state of emergency on October 16.
According to Ferry County Assistant County Engineer Ben Butler, the rebuilding of the road depends entirely upon the receipt of federal emergency relief funds to the tune of $784,000. That's almost as much as Ferry County's entire annual road department budget.
The county constructed a detour around the massive slide, 13 miles north of Inchelium but the detour is rustic at best.
So 300 cars and trucks pile onto the Inchelium Ferry every day. The USS Kohler holds approximately ten vehicles and makes the full trip each half-hour.
The new vessel will be an exciting change for the seven ferry employees. First, it carries 16 vehicles instead of only 10. And instead of being manually controlled, it's electric, hydraulic and pneumatic. The driver will be perched in a small control room way up on top improving his view and control.
The manually-controlled, dual-engine USS Kohler has been in service since 1974. It replaced an even cruder ferry, which began service shortly after the Columbia River was raised by the dam in the late 1930s. The first Inchelium ferry now rests at Rickey Point, about 20 miles north of Gifford.
The Columbia Princess will be Jim Arnold's third generation of ferries. If anyone is more anxious for the new ferry than the daily passengers, it's Arnold.
In 1947 Arnold came to Gifford from Michigan and bough a relative's share of the old ferry operation. In 1972 the old boat just quit running. For two years there was no ferry service at all.
"Then several slides on the Inchelium-Kettle Falls road convinced the Tribal Council to push for a new ferry," Arnold recalled.
So the current Inchelium-Gifford free ferry was born, much to the relief of passengers who not only had no other means of travel, but who had been accustomed to paying a $1.50 toll on the old boat. The ferry operation became the property of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the government picks up the tab much as it does for an interstate highway.
The BIA is footing the bill for the "yellow elephant." The Columbia Princess is costing $1.7 million to put together. With a $1.8 million bill for shore facilities, the grand total is $3.5 million. Any emergency travel must also be done via the ferry. One woman learned the hard way in October when she gave birth on the ferry before it reached the other side.
But if charm could make up for all the inconvenience, consider the debt paid.
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