The story behind ARTA in the 1950s and 1960s

Rob Elliott was deeply involved with the start of whitewater rafting in the U.S. and tells some amazing stories about its origins in this oral history conducted in 2005 by Lew Steiger of the Grand Canyon River Guides Association for its Boatman’s Quarterly Review publication. Rob, one of the sons of ARTA founder Lou Elliott, started rafting with his family at a very early age and by 17 was leading trips all over the western U.S. He later went to the National Outdoor Leadership School and through that work learned about and grew paddle rafting, which slowly became one of the most prevalent modes of rafting some 50 years later.  Rob went on to take over the Grand Canyon (and other southwest) river operations for ARTA and created the successor company, AzRA, which continues to this day (Rob sold the company some years back). This interview is an incredible look back at how rafting really developed as a rough-and-ready activity done by people who just loved to be on rivers, before the larger commercial framework of rafting developed.  This document is taken from the original BQR issue (more on the Grand Canyon-focused BQR here).  A complete transcript of the original interviews with Rob is online here.