The Ancient History of Barker-Ewing
Barker-Ewing’s official origin story begins in 1963, but Dick Barker’s love of the Snake River and his involvement as a guide and float operator actually started much earlier.
Dick was born in 1936 and spent his summers at his family’s summer home in Moose, Wyoming. In the mid 40’s Dick’s mom, Jane, moved out to Jackson year round and married Joe Beerkle, a local fishing guide. Joe had been working the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park since 1938 and was a seasonal fishing guide for Bob Carmichael’s tackle shop in Moose. Joe took Dick under his wing and started to teach him how to make a living on the river.
Dick often joked that he “learned the river from the bottom up.” But he really did learn that way! As Dick remembered it, Joe liked to hang out in his favorite fishing holes rather than just drift through. So he innovated. And his innovation was a river anchor. Joe would pick Dick up, hand him a rope, and toss him overboard. Dick would hold the boat in place against the current while Joe got a few casts in, and then he would pluck Dick out of the river, rinse, and repeat.
Nowadays, that would probably be considered child abuse, but at that time, Jackson Hole was still the “Old West” and local people thought that kind of thing was “funny.” Later, when Dick was in high school, Joe taught him how to fly fish and run rafts and hard-sided boats. This experience led to Dick’s employment in the late 1950’s at the very same tackle shop where Joe worked. But the story doesn’t end there.
Every so often, Dick would share memories about the early days of scenic rafting – before it was an “official” activity. Back in those early days, when the Snake was running high and muddy during the spring snowmelt, fishing guides would show up for work and find that there was nothing to do except sit around, smoke cigarettes, and complain that the river wasn’t cooperating with their livelihoods. During these idle days of forced leisure, visiting tourists would often drop by and ask the fisherman for a boat ride on the river. “Why?” one fishing guide asked. The tourist’s answer: “To look at the scenery.” The fishing guide’s reply: “You can look at the scenery right here!”
Another innovation! Dick started thinking that maybe he could give boat rides and interpretive tours to tourists without having to worry about whether the fish were biting. He presented his plan to the Park Service, bought a small six-person army surplus raft (complete with patched bullet holes!) and by 1963, he was up and running. His wife Barbara managed reservations and shuttled their one Landrover from the put-in at Deadman’s Bar to the landing at Moose, while Dick guided passengers down the most scenic stretch of the Snake River. A couple of years later, Dick joined forces with Frank Ewing, who had been working at Jackson Lake Lodge as a river guide, and Barker-Ewing was born.
From those simple beginnings, our family business has grown to include a whole family of guides as well as Dick and Barbara’s two kids. We think we work in the most beautiful place in the world, and our family is honored to share this place with you!
