Birch Bark Canoes

	Source Photo: Virtual Museum of New France.	"Canoe travel was an art that required a knowledge of other techniques. The birch bark canoe is extremely light, it can be carried in one hand allowing the canoeist to carry his other gear at the same time. On the water the canoe was like a feather , as it lightly skimmed on the water. A hunter moved with hardly a sound." Northern Missionary, Harry E. Hives 1901 –1974 Northern Anglican Missionary, published 1992
	Our ancestors used the birch bark canoe for thousands of years on the North American waterways. Anyone could own one if he or she knew how to built it. Aside from making a canoe, a traveller had to know how to repair and maintain it since their lives would depend on it when travelling great distances in the Eastern Woodland or Subarctic regions.
	Source photo: Teach Magazine	Birch bark canoes could be designed to carry a single paddler with a light load or 50 paddlers with heavy loads (such as bundles of furs and animal skins for trade). The larger canoes were of different sizes, generally 10 to 24 feet in length (7.2 meters). They were built not only to carry large loads and many paddlers, but also to navigate through dangerous rapids and/or over large bodies of water.
	All the materials required to build a canoe were readily available from the surrounding forests. A skilled canoe builder was able to select and gather the correct type and size of bark and root lashings needed to either build or repair a canoe. Also he or she had to be a bit of a chemist to mix the right amount of tree resin and tar to make waterproof caulking. In addition, the canoe builder had to be able to:	Source Photo: Virtual Museum of New France

carve the manboards
bend and lash the gunwales
stitch the seams and gores
bend and insert the 30 or more ribs
(the canoe’s main structural supports)
decorate the bark by etching or painting

laminate the prowpieces,
insert the hand-carved thwarts
rip and lay the cedar planking
caulk the seams and holes with pine gum

Source Photo: Tomah Joseph, Peabody Museum, Harvard University

The one or two-person birch bark canoes were made more quickly. These canoes were used for hunting or warring parties where stealth was required. A lone paddler would sometimes have to carry the canoe and so the boat had to be lightweight. To solve this problem a canoe could be designed without its heavier structures such as the planking and prowpiece. As such these canoes were less durable than their larger counterparts. However, with good maintenance and care smaller canoes could last up to five years.

Source Illustration: 500 Nations

Storage of the birch bark canoes was relatively simple. Our ancestors would keep a boat away from excessive light and moisture by elevating it upside-down in the shade or completely submerging it in a lake or pond using rocks to weigh it down. Both methods of storage are still used today.

	"It was fascinating to watch the old-timers make these canoes. They made the ribs, the frame of the canoe then they would start matching and patching and sewing the strips of birch bark, holding everything together with a resin they made and which they kept stirring and re-heating. It was made from spruce resin gum and tar. They did this canoe building so well, it was a pleasure to watch them."
	Elder Agnes Carriere, 85 years old Resident of Cumberland House Sask.
	Source Illustration NativeTech: Native American Technology and Art.
	For more information and references, click here!