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Canoes: A Natural History in North America

Mark Neuzil and Norman Sims

Overview

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

Citable Link

Published: 2016

Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

ISBN(s)

9780816681174 (hardcover)

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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 illustration of two men sitting in a birch-bark canoe on the reflective surface of a lake. One man is sitting in the front of the canoe with a gun, and the other is standing in the back of the canoe with his mouth to the cylindrical moose horn.

Calling Moose with the "Moose Horn"

From Chapter 2: Birch-Bark Canoes

Tappan Adney, Calling Moose with the “Moose Horn,” ca. 1896

This Rushton pack canoe, displayed at the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum, was one of many lightweight small boats he made for hunters and sportsmen.

Rushton Pack Canoe

From Chapter 4: All-Wood Canoes

This Rushton pack canoe, displayed at the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum, was one of many lightweight small boats he made for hunters and sportsmen.

A lithograph print in color of two men in a birch-bark canoe. One man is aiming his gun at a buck on the shore as a dog swims along side the canoe.

A Good Chance

From Chapter 4: All-Wood Canoes

Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, A Good Chance, ca. 1863, lithograph print. Published by Currier & Ives for the American Hunting Scenes print series.

An illustrated cover of Forest and Stream magazine.

Forest and Stream

From Chapter 5: Wood-and-Canvas Canoes

George Washington Sears was an early staff writer at Forest and Stream, one of the most popular outdoor periodicals of its day.

A black and white photograph of three men lounging beneath a makeshift canvas tent on the shore with the river flowing behind them. Their birch-bark canoe sits beside them propped up agains a pine tree

Views of Dalles of the St. Louis River

From Chapter 8: Canoe Tripping

T. W. Ingersoll, Views of Dalles of the St. Louis River, ca 1890, photograph.

A colorful painting of two men in a birchbark canoe filled with packs and other various equiptment. A mountain lion snarls at the outdoorsman from his perch on a rock outcrop. A buck leaps out of shallow water onto the shore in the distance.

In the Canoe

From Chapter 8: Canoe Tripping

Philip Goodwin (1881–1935), In the Canoe, ca. 1920s. Oil on canvas, 24 by 36 inches (61 by 91.4 cm)

A color illustration depicting two men in a birchbark canoe. One man sits in the front with his head turned down from the viewer. The other man stands in the back of the canoe, starting out of frame, with a cylindrical moose horn in his right hand, and an oar suberged in water in the right.

The Moose Call

From Chapter 8: Canoe Tripping

Tappan Adney, The Moose Call, 1902.

A black and white illustration of three men hauling a canoe containing the body of a killed moose to camp.

Taking the Moose Back to the Camp

From Chapter 8: Canoe Tripping

Tappan Adney, Taking the Moose Back to the Camp, ca. 1896