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Show Nh v , f - i ' !"V, 4J,. f ' "T" -- " -- L.JgJ j$?Sb. k, - - ii'utr.WfiirtiHiliirt hes been in the business, Lou Elliott has seen quarter-centur- y TWENTY-FIVyears ago, Lou Elliott realized he had come to one of lifes important crossroads. He owned a job printing shop, but he was working so hard, he says, that he never saw his children. He also had been running rivers for seven summers as a Sierra Club volunteer, and now he knew he had to fish or cut bait. Lou Elliott chose river running. He sold his print shop and the equipment in it, put himself into hock and set up a river running company. My lawyer said, Lou, youre t, but I told him it goes against my crazy to go grain to make money off the National Park Service, Elliott said. So the American River Touring Assn. (ARTA) it became a organization with Elliott as its salaried president, with what would normally represent profit reinvested into educational programs, river conservation and exploration. Today ARTA is the biggest in the business, and Elliott is still its president and guiding light. But he is starting to run out of rivers, due to damming and overcrowding. AS WE lose (white water) rivers, he said, we have to go to flat rivers. So Elliott went to Florida recently to look at that states rivers, which are about as flat as you can get. Floating down a flat river wont produce the same kind of thrills as running the rapids, but it brings people closer in touch with nature, and Elliott thinks thats important. Hes particularly interested in the Suwannee River in Florida and hopes to get something going in the way of a float trip on that famous waterway. Hes also looking at several other rivers. Meanwhile, Elliott has bought a bqrge in Hannibal, Mo , on which he plans to run float nps down the Mississippi come October. The barge, naturally, has been named the Becky Thatcher. But Elliotts real love remains the white water rivers those seething, foaming, sluicing channels that have made river rafting one of the fastest growing recreations in the country. as long EVERYBODY likes to be scared a little as he knows hes safe, said Elliott, explaining the E non-profi- non-prof- A Jot EARLY OPENING DATE I ZION river-runnin- 25 years on the river LODGE (rein M5.50DAY-- CABIN RATES 2 Persons For Your Reservations: Dial FREE-1-80- 634-695- 1 0 cmm cates cto mafl pmGrind Bnroe Cgsiyga-Bt- y Lodge Cmm-K- w 9 Lodge (NORTH RIM) SERVICES. INC. 4345 S. Sptncer - Juite A43 Las Vegas, Nev. 89109 .12. ANOTHER TIME, Elliott recalled, two computer technicians had such a marvelous time on the river that they came to him at the end of the trip and said, Lou, we dont want to go back to our jobs in Phoenix. They didnt. They stayed on to organize the ARTA-backeAmerican White-Wate- r School. River running has changed not only his clients, but four persons very close to Elliott himself his children. two boys and two girls All of them worked the rivers with him, and all married people they met on river running trips. For years, Elliotts boatmen were all male, but about four years ago he began to hire females for the job. Today about a quarter of his force of 205 are girls, and he is delighted with their work. Theyre doing an excellent job, he said. It doesnt take muscles to run the rapids; you need a sensitivity for the river. Sometimes, a single stroke is all you need to put you through. ARTA takes some 7,000 to 8,000 persons on some 200 river trips on 20 different rivers each year now, a far cry from the 420 Elliott escorted in his first year as a e operator in 1963. Back in 1963 Elliott was one of the few people who had run the Colorado through the Grand Canyon; today one of his boatmen has made the run 68 times. Over the years, he figures his people have cooked more than 100,000 meals over campfires and thats a lot of beef stroganoff. Brochures describing trips are available from ARTA at 1016 Jackson St., Oakland, d by Jay Clarke Knight News Writer full-tim- popularity of the sport. They get a sense of adventure out of it. Most of them are sick and tired of the dull life they lead. This gets them out of the rut. Running the rapids can work striking changes in people, he says. Once, an old family friend told me he son. The boy was having problems with his was failing in school, seemed to have no ambition, and he and his father were at complete odds. They couldnt even talk to each other. Can you do anything, Lou? he asked. So I took him on as a boatman for the summer. That fall, my friend called me up and said, Lou, what did you do to that boy? Hes making straight As in school and were talking again. Well, thats what the river can do. Here was this kid and he was big for his age being told by all these people on our trips how good he was at running the rivers, how good he was setting up camp and what a good cook he was. When enough people tell you youre good, you believe it. And when you grow up respecting yourself, you wont have any trouble with society. HMSC Q G O 8 Days7 Nights in PUERTO VALLARTA NATIONAL PARK o Zion Is Spectacular in the Spring Beautiful Weather - tteElgrUfltfla become so popular the rivers are getting crowded. g of stroganoff eooooooooooooooeooo o o 0 1 - j-- ?4&dk; - In the ltiij&m. " - - : 1. ., Calif. 94607. Twenty-fiv- e years of river running seems to agree with Lou Elliott. Hell be 71 in July, but hell be back on the rivers this summer, running the white water (The toughest river to run? Its the Tuolumne in California it drops 76 feet to the mile in its first four miles. The Colorado only drops 9 feet to the mile.), teaching greenhorns how to preserve the wilderness ("Do you know we take out our garbage and sewage? If you can bring it in, you can take it out.), cooking beef stroganoff (and other things) over campfires, and enjoying Americas spectacular outdoors. Hes not a bit sorry he sold that print shop a quarter of a century ago. Florence and the Cultural Heart of Italy with Per Per. Dbl. Occ. o o Frank Sanguinetti Includes: maxicana m o o o o o o oooooooooooooooooo City Tour, Transfers & Room Tax CENTURY TRAVa CO. 531-197- 5 14-2- 16 $1,695 duuhrr f (n Jour group v ( April sun up in 17, limited to ruen) ptrsom MURDOCK TRAVEL 14 s Mam Salt Lake City Utah 84101 Call (801) (801) 521-785- 377-970- 0 0 770 East So. Temple Salt Lake City, Utah 84102 Lake August 9 days -- 15 nights H r "Regular Departures Salt Director, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Art Historian Round trp air transportation from Salt Lake City using o o The 1977 Terra Travel 350 South 400 East, Salt Lake City, Utah 8411 1 (801) 521-945- 5 II 27 |