Canoe believe it?

 So far in the course we have read countless times about the vast amount of rivers and lakes in the Adirondacks and their role in transportation and recreation in the park.  One component of travel on Adirondack waterways appears in many stories:  the canoe.  From Bill McKibben to the woman who survived by cutting her captors' canoe in half, the canoe is rooted deep in the culture and history of the Adirondacks.  But is the boat that comes to mind today when someone talks about a "canoe" really the same vessel that equipped the fur trade?

A birch bark canoe labeled "H.B.C." for the Hudson Bay Co.

The word "canoe" developed from "kenu," a word that referred to the boats carved from hollowed out logs and used to travel from island to island in the Caribbean, and was later applied to the similarly shaped boats used by natives in North America.  The canoes Europeans first came across in the Northeast were made of our favorite crafty tree product, birch bark.  Birch bark canoes are tougher than they look, waterproof, and lightweight, making them ideal for the rough waters and long portages of the Adirondacks.  They were quickly put to use by trappers and fur merchants.  These were no summer camp two-seaters, however; canoes of this time could accommodate crews of twelve men.

Adirondack guideboats, wooden boats of a similar size to the modern canoe, developed in the late 1830s.  Though often mistaken for canoes, guideboats are a phenomenon all of their own.  The biggest difference is that guideboats are rowed, not paddled (one person grips one oar in each hand in a guideboat, while in a canoe two or more people each grip their own paddle with two hands).

Canoe

Adirondack Guideboat

Today a variety of canoes can be seen paddling the waters of the Adirondacks.  Handmade strip canoes, made by bending thin strips of wood around a frame, are popular as both works of art and as an elegant mode of transportation.  Lightweight one and two-person kevlar canoes are popular in competitive racing, and short, plastic whitewater canoes actually require the paddler to kneel instead of sit. Cheaper fiberglass or aluminum canoes are popular among families and rental services.  To this day you can find craftsman building traditional birch bark canoes.  One such canoe floats at the dock of the summer camp I work at on Sherman Lake, but instead of furs and crusty frontiersmen it carries a picnic lunch and singing children, a use of the canoe that I, for one, prefer.

Campers in the birch bark canoe on Sherman Lake

Sources:

• https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/94/97/4d/94974d2ecfbcb8f85b6bcdde63ccf2f9.jpg
• http://cdn.guideboat.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/small_image/620x372/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/a/l/all-boat-guideboat-0509_web_1.jpg
• http://ohto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/paddling-2-610x225.jpg
• https://adirondack-guide-boat.com/frequently-asked-questions/
• http://www.guideboats.com/history/
• http://www.canoe.ca/AllAboutCanoes/
• http://campsandretreats.org/images/made/images/uploads/sf-DSCN3062_900_700_c1.jpg