Minnesota has been and is home to numerous boat builders and one that has made a reputable name for itself is Larson. Larson Boats has managed to survive the quirks of the tumultuous boating industry and has thrived in recent years. Wood, fiberglass and even aluminum; buyouts, mergers; bankruptcies; failed endeavors into making snowmobiles and ping-pong tables; wars; peacetime; boom and bust; fire; Larson has been through it all.
It all goes back to around when Paul G. He was only eleven years of age at the time and he used his boat on the waters in the area. Scrap lumber and nails salvaged from the fire of a nearby farm home were utilized to build the boat. By the age of 19, in , he sold his first boat.
It was a foot long double-ended duck boat that weighed 80 pounds. Paul used steam bent white oak for the frames and clear Minnesota white pine for the hull planking. The cockpit was 9 feet in length and 28 inches wide and could accommodate two men. He sawed the planks and drilled the holes by hand. Paul worked at various jobs in the summertime when it was available. About Larson earned enough profits from fur trapping to purchase his first power woodworking equipment.
With his new multi-purpose tool he started making 14 and foot boats for lake cottages. They were built for use with the outboard motors such as Evinrude, Koban, and Caille; the heavy one cylinder outboard engines. His first major market were cottage owners on Lake Alexander, about 22 miles northwest of Little Falls. He constructed his first shop, a small 18 x 24 foot [ square feet] building, in Compare that to Thompson Brothers Boat Mfg.
Company of Peshtigo, Wisconsin which had a three story 60 x foot building encompassing 31, square feet of floor space as early as Peshtigo Times, 27 June World War I raged in Europe and the United States became entrenched in the conflict in the summer of Larson was struggling through its earliest years during this period.
In March of , Larson and fellow Little Falls resident, Sherman Levis joined a group of sports-persons on a miles dog sled trek through northern Minnesota. He struck up a friendship with the wardens and this resulted in Paul selling a few boats to them for use in their assignments. Constructed of cedar strip planking over white oak ribs, she was covered with canvas below the waterline.
Many years later he commented that it was some of the best advertising he could ever have dreamed up. Larson made a coup in when he became the first dealer in the state of Minnesota for Johnson outboard motors. He packaged boat and motor making one stop shopping for consumers. This marriage enabled Larson to grab a strong market share for the boating world in central Minnesota. In those early days Larson made wooden strip-built fishing and rowboats.
By a larger factory was built, 24 x 40 feet, along the banks of the Mississippi River. Their cedar strip boats were typical of the era.
In the twenties Paul began racing his boats. He made the race circuit in Minnesota and Wisconsin making a name for himself and his boats. He was seriously injured in a crash during a race at Red Wing, Minnesota on 24 August Lindbergh was a long time Little Falls resident. More deluxe models that came with decks, windshields, running lights, and upholstered seats were added. The hulls were made of strips of mahogany similar to those used in the manufacture of fishing boats.
This was lieu of wide planks as was commonly used by Chris-Craft and others. The stock market crash of October effected Larson.
That was a large amount at the time, especially considering the depressed economy. Things looked brighter by the end of the thirties as manufacturing space was doubled. The 3,th Larson boat was built in January, when the firm had twenty woodworkers on the payroll. Contrast this to Thompson Brothers Boat that was building over 2, boats each year during the same period Marinette Eagle Star, 22 July During World War II the company built foot long training rowboats for the Navy along with a few inboard boats used for shore patrol.
They even made wooden beer cases; beer being considered an essential war staple! One of the most unique of all Larson models ever made was the Falls Flyer. Designed and later patented by Paul Larson, the first Flyer came off the production line in patent number , dated 15 April It first appeared in the Larson catalog. The early models had cedar strip planking over white oak framing. The exterior was covered in canvas, similar to a wood-canvas canoe.
The red, cream white, and black Larson Boats Models Twitter paint job was also a departure from conventional boat design. In they made their first fiberglass Falls Flyer. In the early s the model was dropped from the Larson line after major redesign occurred circa The name became Larson Watercraft, Inc. Ryan, Sr. One of their models was called the Crestliner, the name the company adopted as its identity on 16 September At that time nearly workers were employed by Larson Boat Works and Larson Watercraft the aluminum boat builder.
They made about 1, wooden boats each year and close to aluminum ones. Disaster struck on the thirteenth of December when fire demolished the entire Larson facility. It was a total loss with forms; inventory; equipment; and records being destroyed.
Sadly, one dedicated Larson employee was lost in the fire; night watchman Jake Ringwelski. He went back into the burning building several times in an attempt to save materials. The factory was ultimately rebuilt on the same spot. The fire did not affect the Larson Watercraft plant, adjacent to the main Larson Boat Works facility. The destruction of records lends to the mystery of the early era of Larson Boat Works. Very little is known of early models, Smoker Craft Boats Models 3000 employees, and production statistics.
In the company offered a fiberglass coating on the bottom of several of their strip built models as an option. Larson quickly made the metamorphosis from wooden to fiberglass reinforced plastic construction.
Larson used that particular model name into the s. Their earliest fiberglass boats had plastic hulls but wooden decks and covering boards over the gunwales. By when the company was incorporated, ninety percent of their production was in fiberglass. Sales were increasing in the decade and additional financing was needed to help build more production space.
A local industrial development corporation was established to sell shares to raise capital for Larson. They built a new plant on the west side of the Mississippi River in Larson was one of the first fiberglass boat builders to use the Rand chopper gun fiberglass spray method of building up hull thickness.
There were workers at the Little Falls plant by A nation-wide dealer Larson Boats Models Co. Ltd network was well established by that time. Paul G. Larson was born in Chicago on 10 January and he died at the age of 89 in Little Falls on 20 January His Swedish born parents brought the family to Minnesota while Paul was just shy of five years. Growing up near the forests, streams and lakes, and the Mighty Mississippi it was no wonder that he grew to love the outdoors.
He became an avid sportsperson and making boats fit in well with his genre. Larson Boat Works started out as a humble, one man operation and became a major force in the boating industry in the United States and Canada. It made a successful transition from wood to fiberglass, a much more smooth switch than other builders.
Larson letter, undated from files of Shirley Hanson, daughter of Paul Larson. Continued in the next issue. Sources: Paul G.
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