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The Whitewater Industry bids goodbye to John Dragan, the Father of West Virginia's Whitewater Industry. Dragan passed away February 12, 2005 in Morgantown following a stroke, he was 62. A Pennsylvania native, Dragan came to West Virginia in 1964. That year, he took his first rafting trip down the New River with a group of friends. The experience was enough to convince Dragan that people would pay for guided tours along the river's rapids, and soon after Whitewater Rafting in the New River Gorge was born.
With the help of his brothers, Dragan founded the first commercial Whitewater Rafting Company, Wildwater Expeditions Unlimited. Although the company started with very limited resources, in a matter of years, the company became a success for Fayette County, and other rafting companies began popping up along the New River. The rafting industry grew quickly to become one of West Virginia's biggest tourism draws. Today, nearly 250,000 people go rafting on five West Virginia rivers every year. Today, the whitewater industry generates more than $40 million in tourism revenues annually. |
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