"The Duck" was Branson's first DUKW and began giving tours in May 1971.  We still have "The Duck" in the fleet, using him in the summers, still hauling hundreds of passengers, most have no clue that they're riding on a true piece of Branson History!  This shot was taken across from the Branson United Methodist Church on Hwy 76, where Duck rides operated before they moved to their present location near Wal-Mart.

Brochure from 1972.  Loading from the ground, "The Duck" is on the left, "BJ" on the right, The bottom photo is "The Duck" entering Table Rock Lake at the Old Hwy 86 ramp, which was used by Ride the Ducks thru 1984.

Brochure from 1975.

Brochure from 1974, found it on Ebay!
The back of the brochure, center photo, "The Duck" and "BJ" on top of Baird Mountain.  Back in those days, the old road was still in decent enough shape to get to the top, when the McDowell's purchased the company in 1977, the road condition on the mountain had worsened, the Ducks didn't begin going up the mountain again until early 1996 (Season 25), with rebuilt roads by the way.  Today, Baird Mountain is one of the great highlights of a Ride the Ducks tour.

Brochure from around 1978.  "BJ" is the DUKW seen in these images.  "BJ" operated in Branson until 1994, and now operates in Boston.

New Ride the Ducks logo, used from 1979 thru 1986.  This brochure is from 1980.

This is the first generation Duck Clock from 1978, used thru 1984, it simply told the customers when the next trip would leave.

Ride the Ducks brochure from 1983.

Brochure from 1984.  The "Duke" Duck and Captain Rick Warren on the splash down at the Old Hwy 86 ramp.
The yellow Duck seen at the Dam is "Super Duck" so named as it was the first Duck to have a diesel engine.  Ride the Ducks general manager Jim Smith was assigned to this Duck when he started with the company in 1984.  He drove it for four years and went to management.  The black Duck in the lower left is "Don."  The three Captains shown holding microphones are Lee Freeman (top), Jim Grayless (center) and Rick Warren (below).   All the Captains used the hand held mics in those day, drive with one hand, hold the mic with the other hand, when it came time to shift, put the mic in your lap!  By 1985, all the Captains were using Shure brand headset microphones which are still in use today.

Brochure from 1985.

A rare brochure from Season 16, this one wasn't around for very long, "Ride the" was supposed to be yellow and "Ducks" was to be red.

Second Duck Clock to match the new colors of the Duck Dock, this one was used from 1985 thru 1989.

Season 16, 1986

Ticket stub from my third Duck ride, 6/23/86.

"GG" at the Dam.  The radiator had to be in the rear on the diesel models (Super Duck, GG, Feef, Homer and Patches) so they only seated 30.  The extended upper deck was added to the entire fleet in 1986, four seats that was known as the "typhoon deck" so except for the diesel models, the rest of the Ducks seated 32.

"Feef" at the bottom of RC Hill, just below our family's place.

Season 17, from 1987.

This brochure was used for a number of years, Season 16 thru 20.  In 1986, the tour included a visit thru Wilderness Safari Wild Animal Park.  In 1991, a military museum (Bob's collection of military vehicles) was added to that portion of the trip, we continued going thru the Park until 1993.