Page 33 - Flathead Beacon // 7.27.16

ECONOMIC INDICATORS 34 FINANCIAL CORNER 37 BUILDING PERMITS 39 BUSINESS IS PERSONAL 41 Business Monthly
TOURISM
Forty Years on theRiver
GLACIER RAFT COMPANY CELEBRATES FOUR DECADES OF FAMILY- OWNED AND OPERATED BUSINESS THIS SUMMER
By MOLLY PRIDDY
GW
noon in July, and the building
housing Glacier Raft Compa- ny is busy as a kicked beehive, with tourists in various types of swimwear and sunglasses wait- ing to board the buses that will take them to the water.
The draw to the whitewa- ter of the Middle Fork Flathead River is especially strong on what the guides think has been the warmest day so far in West Glacier this summer, clocking
BEACON FILE PHOTO
Stoneman estimates that, in the last 40 years, the company has taken about 500,000 peo- ple down river.
But when they rst start- ed in West Glacier in 1976, the barebones operation employed just three people: Stoneman and his wife, Terri, along with business partner Onno Wier- inga.
The o ce was a dilapidated red building in town, a far cry from the company’s current West Glacier o ce and the Gla- cier Outdoor Center, located a half-mile away.
In the early days, Stoneman remembers three employees being able to manage with the few boats. One person would stay in the o ce, another would drive the shuttle, and the third would lead the trip down the river. On busy days when a shuttle driver wasn’t available, the guides would take a bicycle back to their vans.
Stoneman laughs when recalling what they got away
with in those days, especially the transportation. They used to take 15-passenger vans and rip out all the seats, installing benches along the van walls in- stead to cram in 20 people.
The gear has also changed considerably. For example, when they rst started, it be- came quickly apparent that people needed another shoe option for the rafts, so the com- pany scored hundreds of wres- tling shoes on sale.
Now, visitors can purchase a plethora of outdoor clothing op- tions at the West Glacier shop, especially at the Glacier Out- door Center, which also houses the company’s y shop and an- gling guide operations, as well as the recently added wedding pavilion and guest cabins.
One of the reasons the raft company has stayed in business so long is diversi cation. In 1978, they opened a shop in Pol- son, and then one on the Lochsa
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lacier Raft Company boats glide down the Middle Fork Flathead River. BEACON FILE PHOTO
EST GLACIER – It’s about 4 o’clock on a Thursday after-
in around 90 degrees.
Once the nal raft trip of
the day departs, the owners at Glacier Raft Company sit for a rare break in the shade along- side the building to consider the last four decades of taking peo- ple on river adventures.
Darwon Stoneman, one of the raft company’s original owners, sums it up as he gets comfortable on a log bench.
“We probably took more people down the river today than we did that whole rst year,” Stoneman says.
Glacier Raft Company cele- brates its 40th anniversary this year, making it one of the lon- gest-running raft companies in the state. And in all those decades, the raft company has managed to stay a family busi- ness, run by a tight group of friends and relatives and long- time employees who now feel like family.
As it stands now, the raft company employs about 115 people in the summer, the most in their history. They have sev- en year-round employees, and
From left: Darwon and Terri Stoneman and Cassie and Je Baldelli. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
Glacier Raft Company prepares for a oat down the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.
JULY 27, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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