Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-21
THE CANOE OF TODAY
IT Is VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE
RED MANS BIRCH.
From the Boston Globe,

From the Boston Globe.
OF the hundreds and thousands OF per-
sons In Maine and elsewhere who spend
many of their leisure hours during the sum-
mer In enjoying the delights of canoeing
on some quiet lake or stream Ii is probable
that very small percentage have the
slightest idea of the manner in which
canoe is made. They admire the graceful
lines or the frail craft and the manner IN
which 1t glides noiselessly through the
quiet water when propelled by the strokes
of the paddle in the master hand, but they
do not appreciate the skill with which the
cedar and canvas are put together to MAKE
this shell, which is scarcely the thickness
of the sole of ones shoe and weighs but
little over half a hundred pounds and still
floats so lightly on the water and with
stands many a hard knock.
1t would be interesting could one follow
the history of canoe making from the dug
out or pirogue of the savage and early set
tiers to the frail craft made from the bark
of the white birch and the modern canoe
of cedar and canvas. The savage and the
early settlers when in want of a craft TO
travel on the inland waters selected tree
OF the necessary proportions, feled IL 10
the ground, and then by a tedious process
OF burning and gouging with crude tools
followed out the log until it fioated high
enough out of the water and would contain
several men,
The American Indians, particularly those
of the eastern section of the United States
had better way of making their canoes
They selected the tough, leathery bark of
the white birch, stripping it entire from The
tree from butt to branches, shaping II and
making 1t stanch with ribs of springy ce-
dar, and binding the whole together with
withes and sewing the ends with the fiber
of the cane stalks. The birch bark canoe
OF the Indian and still is the most
graceful of all water craft
Work of an Expert.
The making of birch bark canoe Is he
work of an expert. The novice will try
score of times before his efforts produce
u craft that is even a semblance Of the i'm
ished product of the expert. Every step in
the construction of a birch canoe involves
care and sound judgment. In the first
place ii requires a trained eye to select
tree that is fit for the making of a canoe.
A white birch is always selected because Of
the durable qualities of its bark y tree at
least two feet in diameter at the butt is
required to give bark enough for an ordi-
nary sized canoe.
There are two kinds of bark used in the
construction of birch canoes. the summer
bark and the winter bark. So far as 8; he
canoe-makers know there is little differ
ence in the bark except in the time of year
in which it is stripped from the tree, though
the winter bark is considered the tougher
and consequently the more desirable. Inc
summer bark is peeled in June. The tree
felled and girded above and below and an
incision made from top to bottom the bark
readily strips off in one great sheet. The
winter bark is harder to get. The frost
has sunk deep into the tree and the bark IS
frozen to the wood. The tree is felled on
selected spot and a fire built The tree is
girdled and cut from top to bottom as be-
fore and as the warmth of the fire thaWs
the frost from the bark, 1t strips off clean
from the wood and lies in great sheet
on the snow.
The sheet of birch bark obtained in this
way is thicker and as strong and durable
as a piece of sole leather. The bark is
rolled the long way, that is, from butt TO
top and not with the diameter of the tree,
as it is most inclined to do. The canoe
maker takes his roll of bark and HES him
to the camp or workshop Where ne Is 10
make his canoe.
The sheet of bark is thoroughly soaked
and preserved in all it's virgin thickness
and roughnesS. When soaked until II IS
soft and easily worked, the bark is SNAPPED,
the ends sewed up, and 1t Is stlfiehed WIN
blanks and poles. Into this shell of park
the steamed cedar ribs are then driven and
fastened and the bark is held in its true
form In the birch bark canoes OF
the Indians there was not an atom OF
metal The fasteningS are made with pegs
of wood driven in tight ana sun urn r,a
frightened when swollen by the water Ihe
ends and the rails were sewed with "lthes
and cane. There were no seats other imam
the thwarts of ash or maple when praceo
the craft and were fastened to the ran
with withes. The canoeman needed no
cot crouching on his knees in the bottom
of the canoe and resting against the
thwart.
Birch Bark Still Used.
Birch bark canoes are still made, put
In not a 1.-THE of the numbers that lhey
were a generation ago. The big Whlte
birches are going, and it is difficult mat