Canoes: A Natural History in North America

Neuzil, Mark; Sims, Norman

Mark Neuzil and Norman Sims

2016

This is the story of the canoe, that singular American artifact so little changed over time. Featured here are canoes old and new, from birch bark to dugout to carbon fiber; the people who made them; and the adventures they shared. With features of technology, industry, art, and survival, the canoe carries us deep into the natural and cultural history of North America.

Follow author Mark Neuzil on Twitter: @mrneuzil

A black and white photograph of two men and one barefoot child standing beside a long dugout canoe. The unifinished canoe is held up by a wooden structure.

Natives Making Canoe from Tree Trunk

From Chapter 1: Dugout Canoes

Natives making canoe from tree trunk at Mission ca. 1900. Photograph by Alexander McLean.

An idyllic painting of two men and a dog in a birch bark canoe on the glassy surface of a lake. The lake reflects the image of the men in the canoe, and their paddles send ripples across the surface.

Evening on a Canadian Lake

From Chapter 2: Birch-Bark Canoes

Frederic Remington, Evening on a Canadian Lake, ca 1908. Library of Congress.

A colorfully illustrated map of Canada depicting various landmarks, locations of historical events, people and settlements surrounding the Hudson's Bay Company.

Trading Posts and Territories of the Governor & Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay

From Chapter 3: The Fur Trade

Hudson’s Bay Company: Historic Trading Posts and Territories of the Governor & Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay. Stanley Turner, Made in Canada. 1969

A color photograph of three young women with short haircuts in blouses and shorts sitting inside a wooden canoe on a lake.

CWAC Sergeants in Canoe

From Chapter 4: All-Wood Canoes

Three sergeants of the Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC) in an all-wood Peterborough style canoe ca. 1950s. Department of National Defense. Library and Archives Canada.

Lakefield Canoes Catalogue

From Chapter 4: All-Wood Canoes

Lakefield Canoes Catalogue

A black and white photograph of fourteen men wearing matching canoe-crew outfits is mounted on an illustrated page from a photo album. The men in the photograph are standing or sitting in three rows with three canoe oars crossed in front of them. Text beneath the photograph reads "O.C.C. War Canoe Crew. Champions of Canada, 1904." One blue flag and one red flag is painted on either side of the photograph.

O.C.C. War Canoe Crew

From Chapter 7: The Human-Powered Movement

Album page with one photograph, “O.C.C. War Canoe Crew, Champions of Canada 1904,” with John R. O’Connell at center. Photograph and hand-illustration by John R. O’Connell.

Canoes: A Natural History in North America

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Natives Making Canoe from Tree Trunk

Evening on a Canadian Lake

Trading Posts and Territories of the Governor & Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay

CWAC Sergeants in Canoe

Lakefield Canoes Catalogue

O.C.C. War Canoe Crew