Well over a century ago, John Silcott changed transportation in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley.

The Virginia man, after helping construct old Fort Lapwai in 1861, built a ferry across the Clearwater River at the foot of what is now Lewiston's Fifth Street. About 10 years later, he was charged with supervising construction of a route up Lewiston Hill. The Uniontown Grade, as it was called, came down the hill above Clarkston, then veered east to connect with Silcott's ferry, said Richard Riggs of the Nez Perce County Historical Society.

The last remnant of the ferry is an old, leaning timber near the southern end of the new Silcott's Crossing, a bicycle and foot bridge across the Levee Bypass connecting downtown with the river pathway system. Silcott tied ferry boats to that post back when the Clearwater and Snake were free-flowing streams that rose unchecked each spring, Riggs said.

There's been a lot of talk over the years about protecting that lone remnant of the original Silcott's Crossing, Riggs said. With the completion of the new bridge onto the levee bringing dozens of visitors a day because they no longer have to brave speeding traffic, he expects measures to preserve it will be taken.

The new crossing will be dedicated in a ceremony at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Everyone attending is asked to gather at the south end of the overpass closest to downtown and to parking in the designated area on the east side of the structure.

It was built last summer at a cost of about $587,000. The total cost was closer to $842,000, including engineering, design and related expenses. Using weathered steel that doesn't require paint and the rock-filled gabions saved thousands of dollars, the contractors, Five Rivers Construction of Longview, Wash., said as work was taking place.

The Idaho Transportation Department contributed $500,000 toward the cost, but bids had to be advertised twice, and lighting and landscaping planned for Fifth Street between Main and the bypass were scrapped because of cost overruns.

Visitors will be able to learn more about the site when two other features are added, Riggs said.

"We have arranged in cooperation with the State Historical Society and the highway department," he said, to put two historical markers in the pullout east of the train bridge.

One will recognize the Silcott Ferry and the other the lives of Silcott and his wife, Jane, the daughter of Nez Perce Chief Timothy. The couple lived on the north side of the river near the ferry dock and their graves are on the hillside above the site of their home, Riggs said. They are surrounded by a low fence almost directly across the river from Fifth Street.

Jane Silcott died in 1895 at the age of 53 of burns suffered in a fire. John Silcott died seven years later in 1902 at the age of 68, 11 years before his ferry became obsolete because of the bridge construction.

"The guy made a lot of money," Riggs said. Many of the pioneers in the region found their fortunes by operating pack strings, ferries and other services that catered to the miners, while many of the miners went home broke.

Those stories are told in the book "Lewiston Country - An Armchair History" recently republished by the historical society, Riggs said. It was written by Margaret Day Allen and Ladd Hamilton, both longtime residents of the valley. The book is available at the Luna House Museum and Kling's for $15.95.

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Lee may be contacted at slee@lmtribune.com or (208) 743-9600, ext. 266.