Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 24, 1993 TAG: 9305240262
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
All that late-winter snow that piled up in the mountains and hollows was absorbed like a sponge by the soil, and now is gushing out in springs, rills and streams to create foaming falls and angry boils in the New and Gauley rivers.
It has been like icing on a birthday cake.
"What it means, even if it stops raining for a month, we will have great white water," said Dave Arnold, managing partner of Class VI River Runners, Inc., one of the oldest outfitters in West Virginia.
Even the Gauley River - better known as a fall rafting spot - has been on a roll this spring.
"The Gauley today is running four times its normal release in the spring," said Arnold. "We have run it every day at the premier level."
June bookings for New River rafting are coming in briskly, Arnold said.
"June should be a record month for the industry," he predicted.
In 1968, the first white-water rafting company in the Mountain State was formed by Jon Dragon and his two brothers, Chris and Tom.
Jon moved down from western Pennsylvania, where he was involved with a white-water company. The brothers started modestly, with two rubber rafts purchased from Rubber Fabricators, a company in Union, W.Va. But they splurged when it came to naming their new business, calling it Wildwater Expeditions Unlimited.
"A big trip for us was 16 people back then," said Chris. "We ran about 200 people the first summer. Everyone pitched in for gas and lunch."
This season, West Virginia could see as many as 175,000 rafters, according to the Department of Commerce, Labor and Environmental Resources, which ballyhoos the state as the "Whitewater Capital of the East."
From its humble beginnings, white-water rafting in West Virginia has grown into a multimillion-dollar industry comprised of 37 outfitters with fleets of hundreds of rafts, canoes, kayaks and other water craft. It has provided the state's economy with nearly a $50 million annual boost, West Virginia officials report.
With the crowds have come questions: Are there too many people using the river? Has a wilderness experience become more like a water slide?
West Virginia legislators have established a white-water commission to deal with such questions. A three-year study has been initiated on portions of the New, Gauley, Cheat, Shenandoah and Tygart rivers to determine their physical carrying capacity, safety needs and how rafting on them impacts the economy of the state, said Ed Hamrick, director of the state's Division of Natural Resources.
Beginning July 1, customers of commercial rafting companies will be charged a 50-cent daily user fee to fund the research.
Jon Dragon always figured other outfitters would follow him on the New, but no more than four or five, 10 at the most. He shakes his head in disbelief over the current number, but he doesn't see the crowds as being all bad. The growth means that more people than ever are enjoying the river, he said.
In late June, rafters who bobbed down the New with Wildwater Expeditions Unlimited during the early days are scheduled to join the Dragons in a reunion-type weekend of rafting and camping.
A list of West Virginia white-water rafting outfitters may be obtained by calling 1-800 CALL WVA.
by CNB