Mountain River Tours History
The first rafting outfitter to commercially run the famous Gauley River, back in 1973.Paul Breuer started Mountain River Tours in 1973 with two college friends. He and his wife Jennifer ran the company up until 2009, when it merged with Class VI to become Class VI- Mountain River. Here's the history of Mountain River Tours, in Paul's own words.
| We wanted to show people the great thrill of white water rafting and the spectacular beauty of the New and Gauley rivers. |
We understood from the beginning that the guide was the entertainer and safety person and we wanted to give the guide the most control so we invented with Bob Morgan of Morgan’s Canoe Livery the rear mounted Oar frame and oars for the guide to use to control the raft from a very stable platform. Plus we wanted to give the guests participation by them being up front and paddling.. The combination worked well for Families and first time rafters and the guide. We trained many guides and spawned five other rafting companies in West Virginia (including Class VI)."
Mountain River Tours ran the Gauley river, especially the lower Gauley, the most of any outfitter in the beginning years of 1973 to 1990. We were located the closest to the Gauley river and when the New river was to high we would switch to the lower Gauley of the Lower New and at times even go to the Cherry River near Richwood, WV. Mountain River Tours changed its name to Adventures Mountain River in late 1990s and merged operations with Class VI River Runners in the spring of 2009.