Canoes: A Natural History in North America

Neuzil, Mark; Sims, Norman

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Canoeists paddling a Wenonah Kevlar canoe above a rapids in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

Shooting the Rapids

From Introduction

Canoeists paddling a Wenonah Kevlar canoe above a rapids in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

Steamboat Rock

From Introduction

Photograph by H. H. Bennett, canoeists in a birch-bark canoe near Steamboat Rock, Wisconsin Dells.

Border Lakes Outfitting Company

From Introduction

Sigurd Olson’s Border Lakes Outfitting Company, April 4, 1940.

Myron Nickerson

From Introduction

Myron Nickerson, a former employee of J. Henry Rushton appears on the far right in this 1894 photograph.

Canoeing became a more popular pastime in the twentieth century after the establishment of several national parks throughout North America. Here, two paddlers are photographed in 1952 at Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada.

Two Paddlers at Banff National Park, Alberta

From Introduction

Two paddlers are photographed in 1952 at Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Photograph by Gar Lunney, National Film Board of Canada Collection, Library and Archives of Canada, R1196-14-7-E.

A black-and-white photograph of two people poling a dugout canoe on the Columbia River in 1900.

Log Canoe on the Columbia River

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Lee Moorhouse, Log canoe on the Columbia River, ca. 1900.

Dugout canoes are still used in daily life throughout the Americas. This contemporary dugout was photographed at Playa de San Mateo del Mar near Oaxaca, Mexico.

Contemporary Dugout at Playa de San Mateo del Mar

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Contemporary dugout photographed at Playa de San Mateo del Mar near Oaxaca, Mexico.

photograph of Caribbean dugout fishing boats made from gommier trees, lined up on a beach in Martinique in 1959.

Dugouts in Martinique

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Caribbean fishermen repair their nets in a beach in Martinique, 1959.

A dugout next to an oyster house on the water near New Haven, Connecticut, 1872.

The oyster industry of the East Coast relied on dugout canoes to navigate the rivers of Connecticut during the nineteenth century. This photograph dates to 1872 and depicts a dugout next to an oyster house near New Haven.

Archeologists Melissa Memory, Donna, Ruhl, and Ray McGee examine a dugout canoe found during a drought in 2000 at Newnans Lake, Florida. The canoe is one of the longest and better-preserved dugouts from the lakebed. More than 100 dugouts were discovered ranging in age from 500 to 5,000 years old. Photograph by Jeff Gage/Florida Museum of Natural History.

Newnans Lake Dig

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Archeologists examine a dugout canoe found during a drought in 2000 at Newnans Lake, Florida.

A black-and-white photograph of six dugout canoes of various sizes along a beach at Songhees Reserve.

Dugout Canoes on the Beach at Songhees Reserve

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Dugout canoes line the beach at Songhees Reserve in Victoria, British Columbia, 1868.

A black-and-white photograph of a family of three in a dugout canoe: two adults and one small child. One of the adults is throwing a double pronged sealing spear into the water.

Kwakiutl Family

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

A Kwakiutl family navigating the waters of Quatsino Sound.

A black-and-white photograph of a dugout canoe. Logs and structures are in the background.

Haida Dugout in Kasaan

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

British botanist and ethnographer Charles F. Newcombe photographed this newly hewn Haida dugout canoe at the village of Kasaan, Alaska, along the Northwest Coast, c. 1900.

A color photograph of three decorated dugout canoes on a rocky beach.

Three Cedar Canoes at Skidegate

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Three cedar canoes on the beach at Skidegate.

A black-and-white photograph of two men working to make dugout canoes. Each man is working on a separate canoe and two other canoes are in the background to the side.

Four Canoes Cut from One Cedar Log

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Old-growth cedar trees are immense and can provide the materials for several boats. In this photograph, four different canoes are being hewn from one red cedar log at Olympic Loop, Queets River, Washington. Photograph by Dale O. Northrup, c. 1930.