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Show Taking Time to Get the Feel of the River Is Important to North American Expeditions Because of the beauty of silence in flat water, oars replace motors whenever possible on river ri-ver trips with North American Am-erican River Expeditions, thus providing a complete wilderness experience. This has long been a policy of JimSarten, owner own-er of North American, who feels it is ridiculous to travel 120 miles in three or four days while passing up Indian ruins, petroglyphs, sea fossels, and other interesting aspects as-pects of plant and animal life along the rivers. His trips have therefore been extended to 5 days to allow al-low ample time for hiking, hik-ing, swimming alongside the rafts, and just enjoying en-joying the relaxed atmosphere atmo-sphere of the wide open spaces. Jim is one of the original or-iginal 18 river runners to tackle Cataract Canyon. This is his sixth year in the business of river expeditions and he says he is expecting a busy season again this year as American has experienced exper-ienced a solid, steady growth, generally doubl- ing each year. According to JimNorth American is probably the only expedition company in the United States that runs boat trips in the same foreign country on the same river year after af-ter year. The Rio Grande Santiago River Trip is a venture undertaken by this local company every year which leads into the thick jungle forests of Old Mexico containing ancient an-cient archaeological ruins ru-ins and rare, exotic animals. ani-mals. This river, which has more rapids than the Grand Canyon, falls over 4,000 feet in elevation in one stretch of only 440 miles. Besides the Santiago River trip and Cataract Canyon, North American also takes float trips into Canyon country, through Desolation Canyon, West-water West-water Canyon, and down the San Juan and Dolores Rivers. These trips are a combination of rowing and motorized, and range from one to nine days in length. An interesting outcome of Jim's experience on the rivers is his role in the movie, "The Great Nia-gra" Nia-gra" in which he was cast as a double for Richard Ri-chard Boone. Having met some of the people involved in-volved in the movie industry in-dustry the previous year when they took a trip with North American, it was Jim they turned to for the ability to successfully success-fully ride the raging rapids rap-ids in several scenes of the movie. Now that North American Amer-ican is solidly established establish-ed with competent river runners under Jim's dir- : - jf r '" 1 ' " w. 1 i I " v I r- Hl-J V. ' ill, mm II Ill . kA i-t 1 JU iA Richard Boone look-alike? Jim Sarten's performance perform-ance as his double in "The Great Niagara" will live on as documented proof of his skill as a master of the white water, no matter where it might be. ection, he can pursue other oth-er goals while knowing that he can rely totally on the men under him. Careful selection of these men has given Jim the confidence in their ability abil-ity to carry on without his constant supervision, thus he is now also working work-ing for Texasgulf, Inc., a company he feels is a first class outfit. This is a.new challenge for him, and from looking over his past, will probably not be the last. Jim and his wife, Elda began working for themselves them-selves years ago when they built Towne House Cleaners, after which they bought Inca Inn. With several years of experience exper-ience as an independent businessman, Jim then decided to try his hand in the boating business. Seeking out challenges, he has found success, and will no doubt continue to search for more. 1 |