Rafting (or canoeing, kayaking, etc) the Los Angeles River is one of the old standby L.A. feature stories that some journalist will propose every few years, thinking it's a fresh idea. Charlie LeDuff of the New York Times was the last to try that I recall, and he got in a little trouble. Anyway, Larry Harnisch at The Daily Mirror posts the evidence that reporter Charles Hillinger and a photographer did it for the Times way back in 1958. Hillinger died yesterday at age 82.