Few living boatmen remember Shorty Burton. To most he is the subject of a one-line story told at Upset Rapid. "Shorty Burton drowned here when his motorboat flipped over in the 1960s." The variations from there depend occasionally on the knowledge but more often on the imagination of the teller. At this spring's Guides Training Seminar Al Holland, who trained under and worked with Burton, gave a talk and slide show about Shorty. Several of the Burton family came. Richard Quartaroli made a series of commemorative pie tins. Afterward, when we asked Al if he would write a fuller account of Shorty's life and career as a boatman, he was enthusiastic. Here, after more than thirty years of obscurity, is the story. Shorty's back.