1974’s Row for the River – the story in pictures and maps

This eight minute video unfolds the story of the September 14-21, 1974 Row for the River  when 20+ determined paddlers traveling down the Stanislaus River from Camp Nine to Caswell State Park, then up the San Joaquin River, out the Delta and across San Francisco Bay – 175 miles of river in eight days – all to generate support for Proposition 17 on the November ballot. More paddlers did the first day, and over 100 joined for the final paddle across to San Francisco.  Row for the River was created by volunteers, mostly in the Friends of the River Sacramento group, who put out huge efforts to make this happen (Tom Lovering in particular, and Graciella Rossi for the San Francisco day). In this video, images of key documents and day by day imagery tells the story of being on the Row for the River. See a related video that follows the day by day route of the event with modern day satellite imagery.

Those who paddled the entire trip are believed to be:  Don Ahlert, Elizabeth Black, Marty Booth, John Cassidy, Ty Childress, Dave Cook, John Evans, Dean Garrison, Larry Jacobson, Jenny Jennings, Jan Komoroff, K.B. (Karl) Lewis, Mindy Lewis, Steve Luke (on crutches!), Robin Magneson (Center), Kathryn McHenry, Kathy Meyer, Richard O’Toole, Jay Power, Craig Rieser, Sue Sortman, Keith Ullisse, Dave Westphal, Dawn (last name).  Some names may not be correct or missing. Scores more paddled the first day, and over 100 paddled the final day into San Francisco’s Aquatic Park.