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Show ' ( SS'Wi SSWi ) * , , . , , , , 18-8 ( County Goun-ty Gounty ) , one of the westerly counties , that ( therehas- therehas ) been no navigation on the river within his ( recollec recollec7- recollec7 ) tion , except people using boats for fishing and ( hunt hunt- hunt ) ing only . ( R . 1403 . ) The ( testimony tesuiinony ) of another witness resident in ( Jeff- Jeff ) ferson County refers to a ferryboat operated near Ryan . ( R . 1486 . ) Another witness referred to a ferryboat operated in Love County in Tp . 8 S . , R . 2 W . ( R . 1522 . ) Upon the section of river adjacent to the counties from Marshall County eastward to the Arkansas line , there appears to have been considerable traffic at one time or another , and the testimony deals principally with these sections so far as boating ( his- his ) tory is concerned . D . C . Tumey ( R . 1550 ) , 84 years of age , residing at Platter , Bryan County , Oklahoma , lived all his life in neighborhood of Preston , Texas . He stated that steamboats came up there before the war ; one came to old Preston and stayed until spring ; one went to the mouth of Big Mineral and stayed all winter ; it came up on a rise in the river . One was stranded at Preston and stayed there all winter . The one that came up to Big Mineral had a saloon and groceries on it . The pilot house was torn off of the one that stayed at Preston , by the boat ( try- try ) ing to run under a cable , and it had to stay until the pilot house was repaired . These boats came before the civil war . A keel boat came up and started up the Washita , but hit a rock about a mile up and was sunk . |