The Rogue River Dory

    
   
  The Rogue drivers served their purpose well for over a century. Men like Glen Woolridge, however, looked for more versatility in a boat. The Rogue boat to the right Woolridge claimed to have built, but there are doubters. Built of Redwood strips the boat has a small transom and is typical of Rogue boats in the 1920s through 1940s.    
         
    There was some friendly competition (and sometimes not so friendly) between the Rogue and McKenzie River guides. When Veltie Pruitt and Prince Helfrich made their first run down the Rogue in Veltie's light board and batten boats they were able to run rapids the Rogue boys had to line their boats around. There's more to it than that, of course, but the cumbersome river drivers did not offer the versatility of smaller, lighter river dories.  
         
  The irascible George Hood was one of several Rogue River boat builders who influenced the transition from river drivers to the more contemporary dory type. I've been looking for a boat type I consider the 'missing link' -- that boat which seems to capture the transitional image. This boat may be it.  

 
 

  Rogue River guides, however, such as Glen Woolridge, Press and Sid Pyle, Squeak Briggs and Bob Pritchett perhaps had the greatest influence in defining today's classic Rogue dory. These men were independent, hard working, intolerant of ineptitude, and possessed great humor. They also typified a sense of daring characterized in part by Deak Miller's antics with his plane at Paradise lodge.  
  Bob Pritchett and Press Pyle in particular stand out in my mind as having built dories that reached their apotheosis in wood. They were guides who built their boats in the off season. Their years of experience found expression in their boats. In 1979 Pritchett, having tired of the splash and giggle groups invading the Rogue, retired. He decided to build one last boat, the epitome of perfection for the Rogue. He built it and then he died.    
 

  Unlike the McKenzie boats, the Rogue dories are flat as a pancake on the bottom with upward rakes under the prow and the stern. The McKenzies have a continuous rocker. The Rogue guides needed a boat with great carrying capacity, and the ability to hold the current. They don't pivot like a McKenzie but they require less effort when rowing.  
  Classic Rogue dories are still built today. Most, however, are aluminum. Gerry Briggs quit building wood dories several years ago. A friend of his, however, rightly pointed out to Gerry that "If God had wanted aluminum boats he would have grown aluminum trees!" Ray Heater (Ray's River Dories) builds a modified Rogue dory today. His boat type is pictured to the right.    
       
  The classic Rogue River dory has found another home -- the Colorado River. The high prow, great carrying capacity, ease of rowing and lovely lines have made it a popular choice among dory men on the Colorado. Due to the influence of Gerry Briggs and his boats the Colorado dories are also referred to as the Briggsian dories.    

      Roger's re-creation of the classic Rogue dory