Wooldridge boats 100 yrs.

[Admin1]

So a couple of months ago I had the opportunity to stop by Wooldridge boats and sit down and talk with Glen Wooldridge Jr. I was noticing that they were advertising 100yrs. so Glen and I started talking about his grandfather and all the things he had done for river boating. I had never heard that Glen Sr. had done so much blasting on the Rogue River to make it runnable or that he had invented the jack lift for outboard engines before there were outboard jets or a lot more things. He must have know he was doing something very different as he has many photos of what they were doing. Just taking cameras along on those trips back in the 40's was a feat. I don't know but a small part of what Glen Wooldridge Sr. had done so I would like to ask Glen Wooldridge Jr. to help me out and tell and show you guys some of the historical things his grandfather did for the sport we all love.

[glen wooldridge]

Thank you Jeff.
In 1915, my Grandfather built his 1st. boat and floated the Rogue from Grants Pass to Gold Beach.

In celebration of our 100 year anniversary, we will be going through our archives and posting old pictures.
If you have any old Wooldridge pictures (Pre 1990's), we would love to see them. Glen

Here’s a picture we found in my grandpa’s archives. I believe it’s from the 20’s or 30’s, on the Rogue. The photo caption was…”Woman angler landing a big chinook is Mrs. Darling from Los Angeles.”


Glen (right) and Mr. Degner at Blossom Bar during an early day drift trip down the Rogue. This was before Glen blasted the channel downriver. Probably in the 1930's.


Here’s an example of glen blasting boulders. This is at Clay Hill on the Rogue.

[savage-shtr]

This is great!!!

[Riverjohn]

If you have any old Wooldridge pictures (Pre 1990's), we would love to see them. Glen

1981 Wooldridge 23' MPFI Kodiak 502 Hamilton 212 "The Rat"

[SolarPanel]

Two 1977 Wooldridges on the Charlie River, AK


1977 Wooldridge in Valdez, AK

[glen wooldridge]

Amaziah Aubery and his crew at the Almeda Mine bridge over the Rogue. Mining equipment had to be unloaded, the boat lifted across, then reloaded for the downriver trip. w/b


Early tow rig, two horsepower! w/b

[glen wooldridge]

If you have any old Wooldridge pictures (Pre 1990's), we would love to see them. Glen

1981 Wooldridge 23' MPFI Kodiak 502 Hamilton 212 "The Rat"

Nice looking boat. Someone spent a lot of hours polishing! I believe this boat had a 454 with twin turbo's when it was new. Glen

[akhunter67]

There are a lot of real nice older Wooldridges in alaska. Tri- river charters ran quite a few in Talkeetna. Is the river rat in alaska? Great looking boat!

[glen wooldridge]

Two 1977 Wooldridges on the Charlie River, AK


1977 Wooldridge in Valdez, AK

Nice pair of twins. One of the times when I was in Fairbanks, I looked at Binkley's old 21' Wooldridge that Skip bought from me. They still use it for sounding and pushing their stern wheeler's around. It's even a little older. Thanks for the great pictures. Glen

[akhunter67]

Does anyone know who built the first aluminum inboard river Jet boat? I am thinking it may be a Wooldridge but that is because of the 100 years in the industry!

[glen wooldridge]

Hewes built some riveted OB boats in the 50's. Any welded sleds my Grandfather built in the 60's were probably all outboards (not sure). I would guess the 1st welded inboard jet boat came from the Lewiston-Clarkston.
Glen.

[glen wooldridge]

Here's an ad my Grandfather had for guided trips on the Rogue. Glen

[glen wooldridge]

This is Glen Sr. performing a test run down the Rogue River before they used Boat No. 2 up the Salmon River back in 1948. w/b


This is another picture of the same boat in 1948. Check out the Evinrude motor. w/b

[Kevin Turner]

Awesome!

[glen wooldridge]

This pic shows Glen Sr. with TV Star Truman Bradley, who was shooting a show on the Rogue River. His career spans from the 1930's to the 50's as a radio broadcaster, actor and narrator in numerous movies. He was also host of "Science Fiction Theatre" and was in a couple Charlie Chan movies. Glen

[glen wooldridge]

Glen Sr. rowing an early aluminum drift boat. (Note the aluminum oars.) He built his first aluminum drift boat in 1962. Glen

[glen wooldridge]

Here's my Grandfather with an early Wooldridge welded aluminum sled on the Rogue. Glen

[chariotdriver]

Here's my Grandfather with an early Wooldridge welded aluminum sled on the Rogue. Glen

Thanks for sharing some of your incredible heritage!

[Jaker]

[/quote]Thanks for sharing some of your incredible heritage![/quote]

X 2 from me. Really appreciate you putting these out as I absolutely Love viewing and reading about the history of what we do!

[SolarPanel]

Thanks for sharing the pics & history. I really enjoy reading it & looking at the pictures.