Upcoming Event: Leacock Museum "Boating Old Brewery Bay" Exhibit Launch

Wanted to share info about an upcoming event that will be of interest to canoe buffs and historians alike. The Northern Lakes Chapter of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association will be participating in an event at the Leacock Museum National Historic Site in Orillia, Ontario on Saturday May 20th.

A schedule of events has been prepared which will include on-water paddling demonstrations, displays of historic boats and paddles, as well as items available for sale. 

The Leacock Museum in Orillia, Ontario is a National Historic Site of Canada and is housed in the summer estate of Canadian author and humourist Stephen Leacock (1869 - 1944). It is set on 10 acres of land oriented on Lake Couchiching’s south shore. 

Leacock’s boathouse was once a prominent feature along the shoreline. It has been rebuilt to its original footprint and will be the home of a new permanent exhibit on Boating & Fishing in the area. Leacock was an avid canoeist and fisherman and his personal paddles and equipment will make up part of the exhibition.

Historically the area was hub of all-wood canoe building in the early 20th century with makers such as W.T. Bush operating out of nearby Coldwater and the J.H. Ross company in Orillia.

The Orillia Heritage Centre will also be attending and displaying many of the historic watercraft in their collection. Below is a very rare W.T. Bush sailing canoe displayed with some vintage marine engines in the background.

Location:

50 Museum Dr

Orillia, ON

L3V 7T9

I'll be there with many of the craft items for sale from this post here (funds going to the Northern Lakes Chapter) so please consider swinging by for a fun canoe day!

Corona Virus craft projects

The Covid19 chaos over the last few years has meant more time working on smaller craft projects. In particular, much time has been spent crafting various items for display and sale at various upcoming events for the Northern Lakes chapter of the WCHA. 

These items include scale model versions of the historic paddles featured on the site. Using up off-cuts to make these miniatures (ranging from 12" to 24" long) was a fun little exercise. Most have been decoratively burned but a few have been painted. Also made some little stands from other thin remnants.

In addition, I've used up scraps of cedar and thin plywood to make some mini wanigans complete with leather tumplines. My son had the idea of making them into coin boxes so some have a slit on the lid to serve as as wanigan bank.

Also used thin remnants to make some other items for fundraising. These include wooden bookmarks decorated with burned images of other paddles featured over the years.

Along with some discounted books, framed artwork and a few other hand-made items we hope to have an eye-catching display at future events. Here's some stuff set up on the basement ping pong table...

Another post about the group's next upcoming event will be posted in a few days. 

National Canoe Day celebrations in Gravenhurst

On June 26th, I took part in the celebrations for National Canoe Day. The Northern Lakes Chapter of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association had been collaborating with the Muskoka Discovery Center for National Canoe Day. Forecasted thunderstorms and rain which threatened our whole day never materialized, so a special thanks to local meteorologists for being so wrong! 

The theme of this year's Canoe Day at the Discovery Centre was the "courting canoe", a special class of wooden boat constructed for stylish leisure and affairs of the heart. These canoes were most often designed with seats facing each other and often were accessorised with pillows, picnicking supplies, lanterns, and record players. Volunteers at Heritage Boatworks workshop had been working on restoring a vintage courting canoe in the museum's collection.

The canoe is a  Peterborough no. 44, a longitudinal strip canoe (16' x 31" x 12") produced by the factory between 1909-1930. This varnished cedar model seems to have been built with added options including a torpedo style deck with storage compartment underneath as well as a hole for a mast sail. 

The canoe was, at one time, owned and utilized by guests of one of the largest resorts in the region, the famed Bigwin Inn on Lake of Bays.

The Bigwin Inn circa 1917

Later in the day, the canoe was paddled with Gravenhurst Ward 1 Councillor, Penny Varney, serving as the "wooed lady" while dressed in period clothing and protecting herself from the sun with a colourful parasol.

By the time our group was all setup we had a dozen canoes on display around the front courtyard. These included a century old birchbark, as well as new builds and restored cedar-canvas hulls.  Very eye-catching was a modern cedar-strip sailing canoe all rigged up. 

The Chapter had a few other static displays for the public to peruse. These included a 5 foot building form (courtesy of  Rob Stevens) from which the public could glean the basics of wood-canvas canoe construction. 

I also brought along a display of both full-sized and model historic paddle reproductions as well as a 3 foot bark canoe under construction.

During the day volunteers spent time demonstrating paddle carving and seat caning to those with interest...

Craig MacDonald brought his large 20 ft freight canoe covered in Dacron. At one point he had this 110 pound craft up on his shoulders!

Smaller hulls were represented by Roger Young who brought along a stellar display of various Factory Sample canoes, models, and tribal paddles.

Modern canoes were also represented as popular YouTuber, CamperChristina, brought along her brand new carbon-kevlar H20 canoe weighing in at just 28 lbs! Christina was kind enough to allow folks to try an lift this beautiful feather up for portaging and also permitted another paddler to test the canoe during an in-water demonstration.

Commodore Rick Mroz from the Muskoka Paddling Club also brought along their group's 26 foot North Canoe.

Additional demonstrations and some paddling tests were conducted in the protected bay behind the Museum building. 

All in all, a fun day was had with fellow canoe enthusiasts. Happy Canoe Day until next year!

National Canoe Day Celebrations - Gravenhurst, ON - June 26th

This year the Muskoka Discovery & Steamship Centre (Gravenhurst, Ontario) is collaborating with the Northern Lakes Chapter of the WCHA to host a day of celebration for National Canoe Day. The event takes place on Sunday June 26. I'll be there with multiple display of my historic paddle reproductions, a bark canoe model, and other carvings. Also providing a 30 min. presentation on 3 historic paddles from the 1850s (2 of which have yet to be featured on the site) that were carved as romantic betrothal gifts. Anyone in the area is more than welcome to swing by for plenty of displays, demos and paddling. Here is the promo flyer:

A full day of programming and activities has been organized with the planned schedule below:

10:00 am :
Official Event Start & Water Blessing Ceremony 
The day's festivities begin with a talk and Blessing of the Waters ceremony by Indigenous Elder and author, John C. Payette, member of the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory (Manitoulin Island)
Presentation of restored Peterborough Courting Canoe (Ron Riddell)

This year's National Canoe Day at the Muskoka Discovery Centre celebrates the "Courting Canoe", a special class of wooden boat constructed for stylish leisure and affairs of the heart. These canoes were most often designed with seats facing each other and often were accessorized with pillows, picnicking supplies, lanterns, and parasols. Volunteers at Heritage Boatworks have been working to restore a 100+ year old, all-wood courting canoe, a Peterborough Comfort. Join us for the back story behind this fascinating watercraft and its restoration back to life.

11:00 am :
Seat Caning Demonstration (Ongoing through the day) 

Volunteers from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association will be on-hand to demonstrate the techniques of restoring old canoe seats using natural cane. Learn about weaving patterns, techniques and get your questions answered with additional resources available for those who wish to try seat-caning at home.

Paddle Carving (Ongoing through the day) 
An ongoing demonstration of the basic skills and tools needed for making a canoe paddle. Volunteers from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association will be on hand to illustrate techniques and answer your questions. Resources regarding different paddle shapes and wood choice selections will be available for those interested in learning more. 

12:00 noon
Freestyle Canoeing Demonstration (Lee Benson)
Freestyle canoeing involves a combination of simple strokes, plus momentum, angle, and heel to control a canoe and make something even more artful than its parts. Watch from shore as paddler Lee Benson performs a 5 minute in-water musical performance followed by a visual demonstration and explanation of the concepts of freestyle paddling. 

-------------------
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch Break 
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1:45 pm
Seminar Presentation - Romance of the Paddle (Murat Vardar)
Join us indoors for a presentation on the history of giving carved canoe paddles as romantic betrothal gifts. This 30 minute talk will discuss three surviving betrothal paddles dating from the mid-1800s that are highly ornamented and historically significant.

2:30 pm
Official water Launch of Restored Courting Canoe
Enjoy watching the launching of the Muskoka Discovery Centre's restored Peterborough Courting Canoe complete with volunteer paddlers in period dress. 

3:00 pm
Canoe Flotilla & Guided Tour of Gravenhurst Bay
The public is encouraged to join in the on-water fun as our flotilla of boats leave the Discovery Centre area and paddles along the waterfront of Muskoka Wharf. All types of watercraft are welcome. A further guided tour of Gravenhurst bay will highlight some of the features from Gravenhurst's past, including the spot of Camp 20, the WW2 Prisoner's of War Camp in operation from 1940-1946. 

4:00 pm Event End

Ottertail Paddle up for grabs in Raffle Contest

I've donated one of my older paddles to a worthy cause. The Maple Walnut laminated Ottertail Jay paddle is being used as the First Place prize in 2022 Raffle Contest. Proceeds will go to the Northern Lakes (Canada) Chapter of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association. One of their programs that got cancelled during the COVID years was a planned program to restore old wooden canoes with urban high school students to complete their volunteer hours. The kids would learn some practical wood-working skills while making derelict old canoes water-worthy again. Hopefully the program will restart again in the fall. To cover the cost of materials as well as expenses for items such as exhibition space, advertising and mandatory insurance, the Chapter is holding its first ever raffle fundraiser contest with three prizes up for grabs. 

First Prize

 58 inch ottertail canoe paddle

This full-sized artisan canoe paddle is made of Maple and Walnut and features a unique guide style grip. The blade is decorated with a hand-burned image of a Blue Jay perched amongst some tree branches. Paddle is fully sealed with marine grade spar varnish and is ready of immediate in-water use or for display. 

Second Prize 

Framed 18" by 24" Peterborough Canoes historic reprint

 Grace your walls with this large colour poster (18" x 24") mounted in an attractive wood-finish frame. This historic reprint outlines some of the various hull designs and construction methods of the world famous Peterborough Canoe Company, active from 1892 to 1961. 

Third Prize

Paddle making book and DVD set

This set of resources has all the info you need to learn how to carve a variety of one-piece and laminated paddle designs. Includes a brand new, unused copy of Making Canoe Paddles in Wood by Graham Warren and a DVD copy of Paddlemaking with Graham Warren. The DVD (runtime 90 minutes)  includes ten full-sized, digital blade plans (*.pdf format). 

Raffle Details and Tickets

Draw Date: Friday, September 30th

Tickets for the Northern Lakes Chapter raffle are reasonably priced at $10 a piece or 3 for $20. Only 250 tickets in total have been issued. Tickets will be available for sale in person at each of the various upcoming events in their event calendar. 

Virtual Tickets can also be purchased by Interac email-transfer (sent to Chapter Head, Alex Guthro) or by sending through this PayPal Link. Funds are in Canadian Dollars. Virtual Ticket purchasers will need to provide their Name, eMail and contact phone number. This information will be manually written onto each of your numbered tickets. A scan of your completed ticket(s) will be emailed to you serving as your receipt. 

The draw will take at the tail end of the paddling season on Friday, September 30th with winners announced through this website and email. You do not have to be present to win. However, winners will be responsible for pickup of the prizes from locations in Southern / Central Ontario. Please note that prizes cannot be shipped.

Indigenous Water Travel in the 1300s: Live Streamed Event

The Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston is hosting an event which may be of interest to those in the paddling community. See below:

Indigenous Water Travel in the 1300s and Beyond

by Rick Revelle

Hosted by the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston

Date: Thursday, 2 December 2021 from 7:00 PM (EST) 9:00 PM (EST)

Rick joins the Maritime Museum of the Great Lakes to share his knowledge of Indigenous water travel in the pre-contact period. Join us as we explore the Great Lakes region before the building of roads and bridges, when knowledge of the waterways was a means of survival. Rick touches upon Indigenous trade routes, warfare and the role of the canoe using an extensive collection of artifacts.

About the Presenter: Rick is the author of The Algonquin Quest series. The series follows an Algonquin Native family unit as they fight to survive in the harsh climate of warfare, survival from the elements and the constant quest for food during the pre-contact period of 1320-1350s. The series takes place in the St Lawrence Valley, the Great Lakes and the Rocky Mountains. Rick introduces readers to the Algonquin, Anishinaabe, Lakota, Mi´kmaq, Mohawk, and Lakȟóta, languages as they are used in the vernacular in the four novels. The last of the series, Algonquin Legacy, is set to release in 2021.

Rick is a member of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and is a Knowledge Keeper with the Limestone District and Algonquin Lakeshore Catholic School Boards.

Tickets for the event (for both in-person and virtual attendance) can be purchased through the following link:

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/marine-museum-of-the-great-lakes-at-kingston/events/rick-revelle-indigenous-water-travel/

Davies, Berczy & Armstrong paddle replica

Just completed another display paddle for the upcoming WCHA Assembly in Peterborough this summer. My presentation on Saturday July 21 will focus on decorative themes featured in various artworks over the centuries. One such pattern that consistently occurs in several artworks is the "checkerboard" pattern where the blade is painted in opposite quadrants, sometimes with additional decorative elements.

The earliest painting illustrating this pattern I could source is by British Artist, Thomas Davies (1737 - 1812). His painting entitled  A View near Point Levy opposite Quebec.. is dated to 1788 and features a standing figure holding a short canoe paddle decorated an alternating red pattern. The native group is thought to be Abenaki or Huron / Wendat based on the canoe designs and clothing.

A View near Point Levy opposite Quebec with an Indian Encampment, Taken in 1788 (1788 )

 Thomas Davies (1737 - 1812)

National Gallery of Canada (no. 6280)

Davies' Paddle Closeup

Decades later the red checkered pattern appears on a work by William Bent Berczy (1791 – 1873) entitled Indian Encampment near Amherstburg features a stylized shore scene. In the rear is a bark canoe and a set of decorated paddles lying on the ground.

Indian Encampment near Amherstburg, c. 1819-1830

William Bent Berczy

British, Canadian, 1791 - 1873

watercolour over graphite on wove paper

National Gallery of Canada (no. 39793)

A closeup reveals that one paddle looks to have a single side painted red while the one underneath has the diagonal checkered pattern with red paint. Given that the paddle grip was not depicted in the earlier work by Davies, I ended up using Berczy's illustration as the source for my reproduction.

Berczy Painted Paddle's Closeup

Then 30+ years later, the decorative element occurs again in multiple works of William Armstrong.


Hudson's Bay Store, Fort William c. 1860-1870 
William Armstrong
National Gallery of Canada (no. 30490)

Indians Completing a Portage

William Armstrong

1873 watercolor 

Library and Archives Canada, Mikan #2833414

Paddle Closeup (far right corner of original image)

The Distribution of the Government Bounty on Great Manitouling Island 1856

William Armstrong

Source Link 

Paddle Closeup (bottom left corner of original image)

Echoing the images portraying rather short paddles, I carved this one from an offcut of basswood. In the end it has a 21 inch blade and an overall length of 4 feet, making it quite suitable for one of my sons to use. It has a blunt, flattened grip as in the Berczy painting. On one side, I included the additional dot element from Davies' work in 1788 and on the other painted the simple checkered pattern found in later artworks of Armstrong.

  

Paddle Reproduction from Davies, Berczy and Armstrong