Historic Paddle Illustration - Paul Kane Paddles

Paul Kane (1810-1871) was an Irish-born Canadian painter whose artwork serves as an insightful ethnographic record into the lives of First Nations people of the period. In a few of his paintings and sketches, canoe paddles can be seen oriented into a cooking tripod for use over an open fire.

In the pencil sketch entitled Indian Encampment, Sault Ste. Marie below, a single paddle is lashed with some saplings to form the tripod structure.


Indian Encampment, Sault Ste. Marie (Southeastern Ojibway)
August 1845

A sketch entitled Eleven Studies of Indian Life, includes a set of three paddles (lower left) illustrating another tripod image.


Eleven Studies of Indian Life, Southeastern Ojibway
Paul Kane (1810-1871)
Pencil on paper
14 cm x 21.5 cm
August 1845


Paddle Tripod Closeup

It seems these sketches were used in a full colour painting entitled, Indian Encampment at Georgian Bay around 1850. The paddle tripod is clearly visible on the left side of the image.


Indian Encampment at Georgian Bay
Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1995-215-1
ca. 1850
It seems the First Nations used their paddles in a very utilitarian manner, often for more than the obvious role. I wouldn't be carrying 3 paddles on a solo canoe trip, but it is nonetheless an interesting bit of bushcraft history.

Adirondack Museum Paddles

Ever since getting a copy of Dr. Gordon Fisher's recent publication, Guideboat Paddles: An Adirondack Treasure, I've been curious about some of the paddles apparently on display at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain, New York.

I stumbled on a few personal photos on Flickr and Picasa of folks who've visited the museum and happened to get shots of the paddle display. Here's one from deshantm revealing 4 distinct paddles on a mounted display. The first two paddles have some interesting blade designs and grip style.


Adirondack Museum Paddles
Flickr user Alan Teichman, also had a shot illustrating the same paddles, but managed to get a clearer shot of the captions.


Photo Authorship Credit: Alan Teichman
Given the resolution of the original photo, here's what I could make out for the paddles (left to right)...

• Single Bladed Paddle made by Bradly ?, a young medical student on vacation in the Adirondacks around 1900. He copied the shape from an Abenaki model and added the Indian motif on the grip for a "romantic look"

• Single Bladed Paddled made by Dr. George Everett at Lake Ozonia for Dr. Edward Prescott of Potsdam. Dr. Everett was a summer resident who made cherry paddles as a hobby finishing them scraping with a broken piece of glass and applying a mixture of linseed oil, turpentine and vinegar

• Single Bladed Paddled designed and made by James McCormick around 1934. McCormick was a carpenter and boat builder...he made over 500 paddles of cherry and maple before his death

• Single Bladed Paddled purchased with a Rushton Indian Girl canoe. The owner added the red paint, his initials and the ??? to give the paddle a more romantic native look

I really wish museums would consider adding more virtual galleries on their websites. I think it encourages more interest in visiting the museum to see artifacts such as this in person.

Whitewater with Battenkill Grip: Part 1

Many thanks to Graham Warren for directing me to the April 1997 issue of Wooden Canoe Journal where an article by Barry Beals describes an interesting asymmetrical grip. Co-developed by Beals and Jim Walker of Battenkill Canoe Ltd, the unique grip is a fusion of two popular styles, the standard pear and T-grip. In theory, the flattened portion of the half pear cradles the palm more comfortably and the half-T portion allows the thumb to curl around into a more natural position while still providing a positive hold on the paddle. Below is a blurry shot (apologies) of this grip design sketched out in pencil on a piece of maple stock.


Battenkill Grip
Despite the fact that I don't do much extreme white water paddling, I've been wanting to make a functional whitewater paddle for when I encounter some basic rapids on river runs. I envisioned this grip really shining in whitewater conditions and so decided to make another whitewater paddle using Graham Warren's blade design.

I had another piece of birdseye maple stock from which the Sparrow Solo had been made carved back in '08 and this would make the bulk of paddle. Since the edges had been planed square at the mill, some waste pieces of black walnut were easily laminated for the edges.


Laminating walnut edging
A slip of the sawing at the throat of the paddle left a major flaw in symmetry but I'm hoping to correct this by reshaping this area when it has been thinned out more. Below is a shot of the blank so far...


Whitewater paddle awaiting work
If anyone has made a Battenkill grip or come across paddles with this grip design, feel free to post a comment or send me some pics for posting.

Gould Auction Paddles

The Gould Auctions site has some fascinating antique guide paddles from their current lot. Check out this 7 & 1/2 foot long monster recently discovered in a coastal Maine barn.


Painted 7 1/2 foot (90") guide paddle
Wagon Wheel Blue and Ox Blood Red
Here's another long antique guide paddle with interesting grip and grain pattern...


Early Maine Paddle
Tiger Maple
76" long
Blade width 9 1/4"

Also found this picture of three paddles from one of their archived pages of completed auctions. The paddle on the left has an interesting scalloped design and rudimentary roll grip at the top. Unfortunately no other details


Set of 3 paddles

Ikwe Film Paddles

John Lindman's recent Bark Canoe newsletter mentioned various films that feature bark canoes (or replicas) prominantly. One of those is a 1986 film by the National Film Board of Canada entitled Ikwe. Here's the description:

A young Ojibwa girl of 1770, Ikwe awakens one night from a disturbing dream about a strange man. The arrival of a young Scottish fur trader transforms her dream into reality. Marrying him, Ikwe leaves her village on the shores of Georgian Bay. Although the union promises prosperity for her tribe, it means hardship and isolation for Ikwe. Values and customs clash until, finally, the events of Ikwe's dream unfold with tragic clarity.

Many of the shots in the film have wonderful closeups of bark canoes and some interesting paddle designs. In particular, I noticed a prominance of what seemed to be authentic paddle grips. Here are some sceenshots.


In the above pic, a Cree guide named Bluecoat is using a broad, flat grip style, very reminiscient of the flat style seen in some earlier paddles. In particular, it reminded me of the flat style of the Iroquois paddles displayed at the Royal Ontario Museum and the Diamond Passamaquoddy I'm still working on.


The female lead, Ikwe, is seen using a bobble style grip on her paddle in a manner I've seen in many archived photos of natives paddling bark canoes. Some examples from the Minnesota Historical Society can be found here, here, and here.

Lindman mentions that some of the canoes were built by Bill Hafeman, but the one pictured below looks very similar to the style and form of Jocko Carle and Basil Smith. David Gidmark's book mentions the near vertical stem as a classic feature of Carle's canoes and the scalloped winter bark decoration with the fish look identical to a canoe I saw being repaired at the Canadian Canoe Museum a while back. Of course, I could be totally wrong in my assumption that it is the same canoe, but it would be a neat bit of info if this canoe was indeed a "movie star".


Bark Canoe in Ikwe


Another shot


Jocko Carle Canoe Repair at the CCM