Canoes: A Natural History in North America

A cedar-strip canoe made in Peterborough, Ontario, on exhibit at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, New York, 2005.

A trapper’s dugout canoe constructed of basswood.

This beautiful cedar strip canoe was built by the Lakefield Canoe Company of Peterborough ca. 1925–1930. The canoe uses three wide boards as planking on either side.

John Stephenson, one of the early innovators of canoe design in Peterborough.

Employees of the William English Canoe Company pose with a giant war canoe built in the factory on Charlotte Street in Peterborough, Ontario.

Rice Lake Canoe Company catalog from 1900.

This drawing shows the Ontario Canoe Company factory in Peterborough in the early 1880s.

The first Canadian Canoe Company factory stood on Water Street in Peterborough from 1892–1904 near the rail office where all the canoes made in town were shipped.

The building department at the Canadian Canoe Company factory, ca. late nineteenth century.

Sawdust litters the floor of the workshop at the Canadian Canoe Company factory as builders fashion canoes in distinctive shapes.

A coat of varnish was one of the final steps in canoe construction at the Canadian Canoe Company factory.

This 16-foot “Comfort Craft” courting canoe was built by the Peterborough Canoe Company in 1904. Also known as the “Girling Canoe,” it came equipped with lockers under the side decks for a phonograph and records. The front seat faced the stern of the canoe.