Grand Canyon Dories
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Grand Canyon Dories is a river running company in the Grand Canyon founded by Martin Litton in 1969. It was notable mainly in the 1970's and 80's, as a longer, more thorough way to run the canyon that was relatively inexpensive. It was also notable for its use of wooden and aluminum dories after most river runners had switched to rubber rafts.
[edit] History
Litton got his start in rivers with P.T. Reilly as a passenger in 1955, eventually becoming a Reilly boatman. In 1962, the two men began working on a version of the dories used in the McKenzie River that would be appropriate for Grand Canyon's larger-scale whitewater. In 1965 Litton purchased Reilly's dories and founded Grand Canyon Dories four years later. Litton tried to keep the price low enough to make a dory trip available to nearly anyone; in this he was largely successful for many years.
In 1986, Litton sold his company to O.A.R.S., which continues to run a few dory trips. The price, however, is astronomical.
