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1955. Sam Gray, David Rutford and Fred Hallberg begin their cruise down the Mississippi river from Saint Paul Minnesota on a homemade raft. The raft was built of barrels and planks. Power for the propeller was provided by a 1939 Chevrolet they had paid $15 for. The car had 172,000 miles on it. The rear wheels of the car ran against another set of wheels which turned the propeller. The car's steering wheel turned the raft's rudder.
On July 25 1955 the trio reached New Orleans. They planned to drive the Chevrolet back to Minnesota.
Epilogue. The three men made it back to Saint Paul driving the Chevrolet in 49 hours. The car used five gallons of oil for the return drive.
Photo Ramsey County Historical Society.
1955. Sam Gray, David Rutford and Fred Hallberg begin their cruise down the Mississippi river from Saint Paul Minnesota on a homemade raft. The raft was built of barrels and planks. Power for the propeller was provided by a 1939 Chevrolet they had paid $15 for. The car had 172,000 miles on it. The rear wheels of the car ran against another set of wheels which turned the propeller. The car's steering wheel turned the raft's rudder.
On July 25 1955 the trio reached New Orleans. They planned to drive the Chevrolet back to Minnesota.
Epilogue. The three men made it back to Saint Paul driving the Chevrolet in 49 hours. The car used five gallons of oil for the return drive.
Photo Ramsey County Historical Society.
That reminds me of this 1951 Chevy truck from Cuba driving to Florida in 2005.
1955. Sam Gray, David Rutford and Fred Hallberg begin their cruise down the Mississippi river from Saint Paul Minnesota on a homemade raft. The raft was built of barrels and planks. Power for the propeller was provided by a 1939 Chevrolet they had paid $15 for. The car had 172,000 miles on it. The rear wheels of the car ran against another set of wheels which turned the propeller. The car's steering wheel turned the raft's rudder.
On July 25 1955 the trio reached New Orleans. They planned to drive the Chevrolet back to Minnesota.
Epilogue. The three men made it back to Saint Paul driving the Chevrolet in 49 hours. The car used five gallons of oil for the return drive.
Photo Ramsey County Historical Society.
What a great story. It must have been one heck of an adventure. One surely they'll never forget.
June 21 1955. Sam Gray, David Rutford and Fred Hallberg begin their cruise down the Mississippi river from Saint Paul Minnesota on a homemade raft. The raft was built of barrels and planks. Power for the propeller was provided by a 1939 Chevrolet they had paid $ 15 for. the car had 172,000 miles on it. The rear wheels of the car ran against another set of wheels which turned the propeller. The car’s steering wheel turned the raft’s rudder. In Saint Louis Missouri the men had a delay as the Chevy’s valves needed to be ground. Outside of Memphis Tennessee a bearing on the propeller shaft burned out but the men were able to repair it with tools borrowed from a barge crew. The men ran low on food as they discovered a stowaway was eating their food. The stowaway was a rat. The men tried fishing for food but caught nothing the entire trip. Other problems encountered included mosquitoes, driftwood in the river and backwash from passing barges. On July 25 1955 the trio reached New Orleans. They planned to drive the Chevrolet back to Minnesota. Epilogue. The three men made it back to Saint Paul driving the Chevrolet in 49 hours. The car used five gallons of oil for the return drive. Photo Ramsey County Historical Society.
This story reminded me of a tale I've heard about my grandfather (my mom's dad, he passed away when mom was 12...back in the mid 50's). Grandpa worked for the USGS as a stream gauger all over Arizona. He worked his way up to being the boss and was stationed in Yuma. A group was formed; the Yuma Yacht Club and a group of guys jumped on some boats with a loose government sponsorship and a lot of beverages and navigate the Colorado River from Yuma to the Gulf of California.
I first found out about it from some internal monthly USGS newsletters that the stream guagers would put out every month. the newsletter was called the Arizona Water Wheel and along with official news, data, etc it also had personal notes from the various scattered stream gaugers. Mom passed recently and I've inherited a bunch of historical documents. In one box I saw a newspaper article relating to the trip but I havent had time to dig into it yet.
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