Saratoga’s superb trout fishing featured in 1968 TV series

Scribes, promoters, reporters, travel writers and outdoor magazine editors from throughout the country have long declared the Upper North Platte River in the Saratoga/Encampment valley as one of the top blue ribbon trout streams in the nation.

But it wasn’t until 1968 that more than 25 million television viewers experienced the thrill of fishing the majestic river, which originates near Walden, Colo., flows North through Saratoga on its way to Casper where it turns East, ending at Plattsmouth near Omaha, Neb.

In 2012, local residents were given an opportunity to again view the film that presented Saratoga and its fishing to the world with the showing of “Curt Gowdy’s American Sportsman” at the Community Center.

From August 1967 to Feb. 1, 1968 headlines in The Saratoga Sun declared “Curt Gowdy to Film Fishing on Platte,” “Curt Gowdy at Old Baldy Club” and “TV Series to Feature Fishing Here.”

In the next Postcard, we will feature excerpts from these articles written in The Sun by editor Dick Perue concerning this monumental event.