In the White River Region around Branson in the 40's and 50's, Jim Owens was a legend. He started a float trip service catering to visitors who wanted to float along the James and White Rivers for a day, a weekend, even up to a week or two. As a customer, you could fish, snap photos, or lay back and enjoy the scenery. The majority of people taking a trip with Owens' service did it to fish, and the river guides would cook breakfast and supper, with camps being set up on gravel bars on the river. Later on, Jim Owens had several other businesses around Branson. Real estate, a motion picture theater, and so on. Owens became the mayor of Branson. A guy named Paul Henning befriended Owens after taking several float trips. Henning went on to write and produce "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Pettycoat Junction," and "Green Acres." If you catch some of the "Beverly Hillbillies" episodes on TV, you'll notice Paul Henning included references to Jim Owens, Chick Allen, and other Branson area residents. Silver Dollar City honored Owens' when they opened the float trip ride about '68 or '69, and named it for him. The ride allowed families to get in a Jon Boat, and float an Ozark river. I was a "river rat" at the float trip in 1979. I helped load people in and out of boats, and worked the dispatch stand. The float trip is one of the oldest rides at SDC. It was replaced with the American Plunge in 1981. In the line waiting to get on the plunge you can still see some of the old "rock" channels used by the float trip. Currently, the channels are just used to cycle water through the plunge.Some of the old float trip channels were implemented into the American Plunge. Some of the scenes you would view on the float trip included "Echo Rock," (A microphone was hidden and when you hollered out, amplified sound would "echo" back at you.) There was an outhouse on the edge of a low bluff, and when your boat approached the outhouse appeared as if it was going to fall on your boat. There were some hogs slurping out of a moonshine still, and there was a "river gang clubhouse" where the members were fishing and swimming. You passed a river camp, where a river rat had been treed by a bear, an animal haven that had live prairie dogs, goats, or other animals, a swirling whirlpool, and then a dark cave where "ghosts" danced in a hidden underground saloon, and a barrell dump poured a waterall of water along your boat. On the way back around to the dock, a couple of water geysers almost squirted your boat. It was a gentle, family friendly ride. The theme changed a little bit over the years...at first Jim Owens' "ghost" talked to you about the river, later a woman looked for her hustband and no good friend, and the last few years, the cave had gnomes in it. I've got several pictures of the float trip I hope to scan in the next few days and post on the flickr account, and I'll update this thread when I do so. Tell me your memories of this old favorite ride at SDC.