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Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
When making my first kayak run on the Upper/Lower Gauley in 1971, I was told that Sweet Falls was named for John Sweet, a prominent C-1 paddler, because on the first descent he was the only one to run the falls part (as opposed to the sneak on the far left). In 2012, I ran the Gauley with Jack Wright, who I had always heard was on this first descent and who claimed to have been. He said that the first run was at 1000cfs, which would go along with the comments about the origin of the name of Insignificant. I believe that this first descent was in September 1968. Up until the formalization of recreational releases in the late 70s or early 80s, the lake drawdown started in October, not September. This would be why the first run was at a lower level than today's recreational releases.
The notable raft pioneer doing the Gauley in 1972 was Jon Dragan. I don't recall that John Sweet was ever significantly involved in rafting, certainly not in southern West Virginia.
A couple of other comments - in the old days the rapid referred to as "Heaven's Gate" was known as "Gateway to Heaven." And the most significant rapid between Lower Mash and Gateway to Heaven is Diagonal Ledges, which has a very popular play hole. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.228.228.46 (talk) 23:47, 21 September 2013 (UTC)Reply
