The McKenzie River Drift Boat History and Celebration
This Saturday, April 26th from 10-4 is the annual McKenzie River Wooden Boat Festival. It is a celebration of the history of the McKenzie River Drift Boat, famous for its unique design on whitewater rivers. Every year, fishing guides, wooden boat fans, locals and tourists gather at the Eagle Rock Lodge on the opening day of fishing season to celebrate and learn about McKenzie River history, wildlife and of course, the infamous wooden boats!
This year, the drift boat has been the talk of the river with Randy Dersham’s documentary film Oregon’s Boat, which has won several awards and honorable mentions.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Randy to learn more about his inspiration for creating the film and his interest with drift boats.
Q- What’s your background with film?
RD- I graduated from the University of Oregon as a photography major. Later, I got into the computer game business starting off building an art department for a new studio in Eugene, OR. That led to a long career making interactive games for world-wide companies. After I was done with that, I’ve always wanted to make a documentary.
Documentaries are linear- scriptwriting is not something that I’ve done before, so that was a challenge for me but the rest of it was very much like putting together a game.
Q- What inspired you to make this film in particular? Why drift boats?
RD- There’s two things when you live on the McKenzie River:
1. You become steeped with the McKenzie River Drift Boat. There’s no way not to have that happen.
2. The story of the history has been changing over the last 20 years or so. It’s nobody’s fault one way or the other. The only pieces written about drift boat history, for the most part, are marketing materials.
While there is one comprehensive book written by Roger Fletcher that contains thorough research on the origins and story of the McKenzie River Drift Boat, most of the Internet content about drift boats was created by boat manufacturers for marketing and promotion.
Misinformation was often amplified.
“I wanted to put a stake in the ground and say “this has been documented, this is where it came from, this is what happened, and this is who was involved.”
Q- The length of the film is 35 minutes. Is there any specific reason you chose to do a short film versus a longer one?
RD- I wanted to keep it a short documentary because of money. It’s expensive, but as soon as you cross the 40 minute time frame you get placed into a category with features. Feature documentaries now are multi million dollar projects and I didn’t want to try and live in that space.
I think fewer than 40 minutes was appropriate for this subject.
Q- What were your goals for the viewer while creating this film?
RD- Well one of my goals was to create a sense of place (the McKenzie River), pique your curiosity, and leave the viewer wondering more about what’s next at the end of every chapter.
Then when you get to the end, I want the viewer to think ‘I wish there was a little more.‘
So what is the “more” that Randy and his colleagues want the viewers to wonder about?
The film follows a linear timeline in five acts:
The story begins with John West, who widened and shortened the boats in use during the 1920s to accommodate two anglers in front of the rower. This change not only made the boat more efficient for fishing but also doubled the earning potential for river guides. His version, affectionately described as a “bathtub with oarlocks,” became the go-to design for more than 15 years.
Then came two pioneering river guides, Veltie Pruitt and Prince Helfrich, who were among the first to navigate many of Oregon’s wild rivers from top to bottom. Their exploration helped lay the groundwork for what would become the McKenzie River Drift Boat. The early version of the boat was lightweight, made with a board-and-batten construction, and could easily be loaded onto a car. It carried just a rower and one passenger—ideal for exploring the rugged waters they were mapping.
In the next chapter, we meet Tom Kaarhus, a boat-building professional who applied his knowledge and problem-solving skills to modify the boat John West had created ten years earlier. This modification made it the boat used by guides and river runners for nearly twenty years. With the introduction of exterior plywood, Tom was able to develop a free-form boat-building method using pre-cut parts in kits that enthusiasts could assemble at home. Soon, the square-ended drift boat was everywhere on the river.
The evolution continued with Woodie Hindman, a former apprentice of Kaarhus. He brought innovation to the boat’s design by building the first double-ended drift boat—an idea sparked by a near-disaster on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. His new design improved performance in rough water and became another landmark in the boat’s development.
The story then takes an unexpected turn to the Grand Canyon, where conservationist Martin Litton, inspired by a ride in a McKenzie River drift boat during a White Water Parade, commissions boats for personal trips down the Colorado River. These boats played a key role in his environmental advocacy, even appearing in the Sierra Club’s famous campaign to preserve the Grand Canyon during the 1960s.
Finally, the documentary brings it home with the boat’s lasting legacy. After decades of innovation and adventure, the McKenzie River Drift Boat was chosen to represent Oregon in the nation’s 1976 Bicentennial exhibition on the National Mall, sponsored by the National Park Service and the Smithsonian Museum. Master boatbuilder Keith Steele and his team crafted the now-iconic vessel in just a few days, cementing its place in both regional and national history.
But perhaps the most compelling aspect of Oregon’s Boat is what comes after the credits roll.
As Randy shared, the final act of the film moves into the post-1950s era—a time when many of the key players are still living, and the story is still unfolding.
The McKenzie River Drift Boat isn’t just a relic of the past; it’s part of an ongoing narrative shaped by today’s guides, builders, and river communities. The film invites viewers to not only reflect on where this boat came from but to ask, “What comes next?” In that way, Oregon’s Boat isn’t just a documentary—it’s an open invitation to be part of a living legacy.
Sources: Randy Dersham, Oregon’s Boat
Author: Brittany Mason
Brittany Mason is a fine art landscape and portrait photographer located in Blue River, Oregon. She completed her Master of Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Art University in 2022 and received her Bachelor's of Science degree in Photography from the Art Institute of Philadelphia in 2014. Currently she is a Photojournalist and Project Manager for the McKenzie Community Partnership as she continues her explorations of the western landscapes. Brittany is passionate about using her camera as a tool for connection between humans and nature. Through her work, she embodies the essence of Mother Earth to give a voice to the landscapes that have been silenced and destroyed by the hand of man. In her free time, Brittany enjoys live music, hiking, reading, crafting, and watching Star Trek.