canoe maker

Searching through the forums on Canadian Canoe Routes, I came across a this dated post by Dave (Watersong) with a link featuring an aged but interesting canoe paddle. Apparently experts at the Canadian version of Antiques Roadshow confirmed it is an authentic voyageur paddle dated to between 1860 - 1875. Very cool!


Aged Voyageur Paddle


Narrow Blade Width


Small pear grip
The relatively short length (56") with a long & narrow blade (35" long by just 3 inches wide!) makes it very consistent with true voyageur style working paddles. While the term "Voyageur" is used by many paddle makers because of its romantic connotations, most that bear the name are usually paddle designs inconsistent with historical evidence.

The main power of the large trade canoes were supplied my the grunt working Milieux Voyageurs who needed very narrow bladed paddles to prevent fatigue with their manic stroke pace. Also if a paddle was lost or broken, one would have to be carved from a log en route. From my own experience in making a few bushcraft style paddles, it is a whole lot easier to find and quickly carve a narrow blade from a log than try to carve a wider blade pattern with an axe and crooked knife. Add the fact that that along more northern trade routes, the diameter of the trees are limited by the short growing season and you have a practical limitation with blade width.

Although designed to power large 26-36 ft trade canoes, I personally believe that this design still has merits for the modern solo paddler. The relatively short shaft length of only 21 inches on Dave's paddle can be explained by the fact that voyageurs travelled in heavily loaded boats, some with just a few inches of freeboard. As a result, the paddler was in fact quite close to the water line and a narrow shaft makes sense to sink the whole blade into deep water for the propulsion stroke.

Today, many solo canoeists heel the canoe over to its side for added paddling comfort and maneuverability. This means the modern day solo paddler is also quite close to water line. Check out the pic from BB's article on the "Omering" technique


Solo paddling close to the water line
In my own experience with slender blades (both the Walnut Kingfisher and Sparrow Maple Solo, I've made the shaft shorter in comparison to the blade length but nowhere near as Dave's Voyageur. Still, they are a delight to use but of course have their limitations in shallow, rocky water so I tend to use them only for deep water style paddling rather than tripping.

This might be a fun design to replicated by carving from a log and recreating some authentic Voyageur history when the season begins again in the spring.

From Jeff Bridgeman American Antiques comes another antique paddle. The description cites that the wood is Tiger maple and that the paddle was made by the Penobscot Indians in Maine for the Hudson Bay Company for their for 50-foot-long "barge canoes" that were used to transport furs. It is dated to circa 1860.


Native American Barge Canoe Paddle
Circa 1860
Width: 7.5"
Height: 83"
Depth: 1.5"


The whole backstory seems very strange to me. Never heard of 50 foot barge canoes before. My understanding is that the largest birchbark canoes (Canot du Maitre) used in the Fur trade of this era were limited to about 36 feet since this is the approximate maximum length before the weight of the hull would cause the bark to collapse onto itself. This is described by Canadian Canoe Museum Curator Jeremy Ward who built a 36 ft replica that was featured in a Ray Mears episode here.

The wide paddle blade at 7.5" is very inconsistent with narrow fur trade paddle that voyageurs tended to favour for their arduous stroke pace. This is also the first I've ever heard of the Hudson Bay company commissioning Penobscot Indians from Maine in United States (never part of HBC fur territory) to make canoe paddles for their fleet. Although, I have read about the tradition of Cree, Montagnais, Algonkian tribes in Canada assisting with the construction of paddles and canoes (particularly in Quebec). Maybe I'm missing something here but it is an interesting piece nevertheless.

Hope all my Canadian visitors are having a great Thanksgiving weekend. Weather here in Toronto has been stunningly warm...hot enough for shorts and bathing suits. In that theme, here is a oddly quaint shot of some "bathing beauties" with a canoe paddle dated to dated to 1919 (via Vintage Ephermera).


Another angle of this same shot can be seen on Shorpy.com which contains a caption explaining the context.

Washington, D.C., circa 1919. "Sennett girls." Producer Mack Sennett's comedy reels featured a bevy of "bathing beauties," among them Marvel Rea, seen here in the harlequin costume. National Photo Company.

The October Current Items page from the CherryGallery.com features a painted Ojibwa canoe paddle circa 1890...


Ojibwa Indian Canoe Paddle
A finely carved maple paddle with an early light green painted surface. It features a rolled-top handle with faceted details, and a stepped transition from blade to shaft.
Circa 1890
4.5" w, 67" h
$1,100

Here are some closeups of the interesting roll grip and blade pattern. It looks very consistent to Graham Warren's outlines of Ojibwa paddles with the interesting addition of some notched shoulders...

Found some pics of another, earlier canoe model with some decorative paddles. These photos date from 1955 showing the "Chartres Canoe" dated to 1672, at the Mus�e des Beaux-arts in Chartres, France. Black and white only, but you can just make out the chevron style hash marks on the paddles.








"Model of a birch bark canoe 1672, at art Museum, Chartres; Summer photos 1955; CCFCS [Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies]"

Here are some shots of a daytrip to the Western Edge of Algonquin Park. Fall colours have begun. Some of my previous experiences in Algonquin park have been disappointments...mostly because of dirty campsites littered with refuse from disrespectful campers. These tend to be the well used "maintained" routes.

With a single day devoted to exploring, I thought I would venture to a region that is technically not part of the park, and therefore appears on maps as an "unmaintained" region. An added bonus is that it is only 20 minutes away from our Cottage.

Access is from a little trail right off Highway 60 which leads into a boggy section of "Park Lake". On the Algonquin Adventures forums a while back, a question was asked about the worst/ugliest lake in the whole park...someone answered this "Park Lake". Wasn't that bad in my opinion...but its unfortunate location running parallel to the busy Highway 60 corridor means you certainly hear transport trucks rumbling over the hilly terrain. Not much of wilderness experience here.


Start Access Point


View across the length of Park Lake


Hills stating to change

Despite this, the lake had lots of wildlife, owing to some boggy areas along eastern and western edges. Plenty of waterfowl like bufflehead ducks, loons, and even a great blue heron in these areas. My goal was to paddle to the small chain of lakes tucked behind the hills and scout the "unmaintained" campsite on a little spit of land jutting into Victory Lake.

After paddling the canoe through some weedy shallows and over an old beaver dam, I entered Victory lake and landed the canoe at the base of the site.


Campsite landing


Clean, sweet little site
Pleasantly surprised! It was an clean, elevated site with a nice fire ring and some perfectly spaced out trees for my hammock. Someone also built some two flat benches with some stones around the fire pit. For an unmaintained site not officially part of the park, this was one of the cleanest I've ever encountered...no bit of food or junk in the firepit and even a nice pile of wood stacked up for the next visitor.

The lake has plenty of dried wood along the shoreline and a nice creek at the end which begged for more exploration. A little upstream I just missed snapping a pic of a beaver.


Solitary maple turning


Bright's Creek


Just missed the beaver
In any event, time was running out and I had to head back. While certainly not a deep backcountry location, I'll be heading back here again for an overnighter eventually. The added bonus for my worried wife is that there is cellphone coverage at this location so she can call me to rush back home at the slightest emergency.

From the The Vintagent, a site devoted to vintage motorcycles, comes this fantastic "sidecar"...


Website details:

"In 1925 through 1927, the Rudge-Whitworth company introduced a line of touring accessories which have never been equaled by any other motorcycle manufacturer...

Specifically, Rudge introduced a full touring caravan, complete with dining table and beds, which could be towed behind one of their '4-valve, 4-speed' models. Added to this, one could order a sidecar chassis carrying a quick-detachable canoe! This was no 'miniature' boat, as some manufacturers produced in the 1950's for sidecar haulage; the Rudge canoe was fully 14 feet long. Yet, the company advertised that the "Canoe sidecar can be turned round in a circle of 20 feet diameter, which very few motor cars are capable of doing. To river lovers it gives great mobility and makes it possible to become acquainted with half the rivers in the country."

Here's another shot of a similar scene.

Man oh man this would make arranging canoe shuttles a blast on river trips!