| It is interesting to note that whitewater | | | | the first ever commercial whitewater trip was |
| rafting was one of the earliest forms of | | | | undertaken. At first, surplus military rafts |
| transportation. It was not only used for | | | | were used as boats and it was only much later |
| carrying people but also for transferring | | | | that inflatable rafts were used. |
| goods from one place to another. However, it | | | | |
| became quite popular as a form of leisure | | | | Private companies played a major role in |
| activity in the 1980s. | | | | augmenting the rafting business. In 1956, one |
| | | | of the members of the most affluent business |
| In 1811, the first recorded attempt to | | | | families of America, John D. Rockefeller |
| navigate the Snake River in Wyoming was | | | | built a resort that introduced one of the |
| planned by the Overland Astorians. While | | | | first floating trips in the country. However, |
| attempting to boat the stretch below Jackson | | | | it only evoked a lukewarm response. Later, in |
| Hole, the river was found to be too | | | | the 1960s and 1970s, exclusive whitewater |
| treacherous and it came to be called ?Mad | | | | rafting companies were formed. These include |
| River.? | | | | the Becker-Cooke Expeditions, Hatch River |
| | | | Expeditions and Slickrock Adventures. |
| The rubber river raft is believed to have | | | | |
| been invented in the early 1840s. It was | | | | Rafting was first included in the Munich |
| first made by Lt. John Fremont, who was then | | | | Olympic Games, 1972. Subsequently, it was |
| serving in the U.S army and Horace H. Day. | | | | included in the 1992 Barcelona Games and the |
| They invented the rubber raft with the | | | | 1996 Atlanta Games. In 1996, the Ocoee River |
| intention of surveying the Rocky Mountains | | | | in Tennessee Valley played host to the |
| and the Great Plains. Although the raft was | | | | whitewater events of the Summer Olympic |
| invented in the mid-nineteenth century, it | | | | Games. |
| was not until the turn of the century that | | | | |