Lars Jensen built and operated the first ferry boat, framed together with wooden pegs, for passengers and baggage two and a half miles downstream from 1881 to 1909. It was replaced by a cable ferry for wagons in 1885, and by a larger boat in 1894. That boat remained in use until ice carried it away in 1909. On its last service, October 5, 1908, his son Jens made 86 trips, crossing run-away Indians migrating from Uintah Reservation to the Dakotas. The town was named in honor of Lars Jensen.