 They reached their peak in the 1830s and 1840s, before their 1850s replacement by steamboats.In the 1880s, in New Haven, Missouri and Waverly, Missouri, the "Tilda Clara" and "General Harrison" ferries across the Missouri River were powered by four horse teams.A ferry powered by horses and mules operated on the Mississippi River at St. Mary, Missouri as recently as 1910.