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 several birch-bark canoes lined up.

Tetes de Boule Canoes

From Chapter 2: Birch-Bark Canoes

A row of Tetes de Boule canoes was photographed by Edwin Tappan Adney in the early 1900s.

Beaver pelts were used in making felt, which could be turned into a top hat, shown here with its case.

Beaver Hat

From Chapter 3: The Fur Trade

Beaver pelts were used in making felt, which could be turned into a top hat, shown here with its case.

An oil painting of several people paddling a birch-bark canoe through water with trees in the background.

Radisson and Groseilliers

From Chapter 3: The Fur Trade

Frederic Remington, Radisson and Groseilliers, 1905. Oil on canvas, 110.2 x 194.3 cm.

Canot du maître

From Chapter 3: The Fur Trade

This 1822 watercolor from the Manitoba Museum’s Hudson’s Bay Company Collection, illustrates a canot du maître carrying two officers.

An oil painting of a canoe and going through rapids.

Chief Trader Archibald McDonald Descending the Fraser, 1828

From Chapter 3: The Fur Trade

Adam Sherriff Scott, Chief Trader Archibald McDonald Descending the Fraser, 1828, ca. 1942. 81.28 x 63.5 cm.

Hudson’s Bay Company employees are shown in this engraving from the late nineteenth century.

Hudson Bay Company Employees

From Chapter 3: The Fur Trade

H. A. Ogden, “At the Portage” from George Monro Grant, ed., Picturesque Canada (New York: Belden Brothers, 1882). Hudson’s Bay Company employees are shown in this engraving from the late nineteenth century. The sheer size of the 90-pound packs, boxes, and barrels to be transported in the canoes can be appreciated.