CANOE HISTORY

Birchbark canoes are most commonly associated with Native Americans of northern New England regions, but were probably produced where ever the birch tree grew to sufficient diameter. Ideal for travel on the network of lakes and often turbulent rivers that stretch across the northern part of the North American continent, these portable watercraft were used by First Peoples thoughout the eastern and southern United States and in all the provinces and territories of Canada.

The canoes were quite strong, and although susceptible to damage from rocks, could carry large loads in very shallow water. They were easily maneuvered by one person with a single-blade paddle and therefore ideal for the fast streams and frequent shoal waters found in the woodland areas. Some, specially built, were sturdy enough for the rough waters of the bays along the Atlantic coast. These canoes ranged in length between 10 and 24 feet.

Larger canoes required an amazing amount of work, although all the materials were readily available from the surroundings. The task involves: gathering the bark and root lashings, carving the manboards and laminating the prowpieces, bending and lashing the gunwales and inserting the hand-carved thwarts, stitching up the seams and gores, ripping and laying the cedar planking, bending and inserting the 30 or more ribs, and caulking the seams and holes with pine gum, and finally decorating by etching or painting the bark.

Smaller birchbark or spruce bark canoes for hunting or warring parties could be made more expediently, being built for only one or two men. There was no planking or elaborate prowpiece in small canoes. The small canoes were not as durable nor as intricate as larger bark canoes, but with proper storage the little canoes could last five years or longer.

Bark canoes could be stored in two ways: either kept from excessive light and moisture (elevated upside-down in the shade under a cover), or completely submerged in a lake or pond with rocks used as weights.

Dugout canoes, chopped and carved out of tree-trunks, have been used at one time or another by many of the First Peoples. However, it was on the Pacific Coast, where builders had access to giant red cedars, that dugouts were developed to their highest levels of performance and beauty. Dugouts from this area have displayed considerable variations in style as well as in size, ranging from small fishing and sealing craft to large seagoing vessels that carried whalers beyond the sight of land.

Dugout canoes were often hollowed out by burning them with controlled fires and then removing the charred wood with an adze. Another technique was to chop notches across the inside width of the canoe and then split out the wood between the notches, repeating the whole process until the desired depth was achieved. In more recent times, chain-saws have been used to eliminate the laborious chopping of notches as well as to rough out the exterior shape of the hull. Seagoing canoes of the Pacific Coast were often widened through soaking the hull with hot water and spreading the gunwales apart.

River dugouts were used on lakes and rivers by various groups across the country. Made from a variety of trees, including cottonwood and pine, they were simpler in design and cruder in construction than the great seagoing canoes of the Pacific Coast. However, some of the larger models were capable of carrying a substantial weight.

Canoe performance qualities were soon recognized by early European immigrants, who adopted and copied bark canoes for their own purposes, such as exploration and expansion of the fur trade. Just how large an impression these canoes made can be seen in this 1897 article for "The Illustrated American Magazine". More recently, traditional bark canoes have served as prototypes for many of the wood and canvas, wood-strip, fiberglass, aluminum and other canoes that have largely replaced them in the modern world.