Canoes: A Natural History in North America

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.

The pioneering chemist Stephanie Kwolek holds the liquid crystal polymer that became Kevlar.

After World War II, Americans enjoyed an increase in leisure time (and more spending money) as the economy started to hum.

Leroy Grumman is an important name in the history of canoeing due to his company’s development of the aluminum canoe as a way to keep his factories busy after the second world war.

Grumman canoes, because of their low cost and nearly maintenance-free existence, became a common choice of canoe liveries by the 1950s.

With Grumman’s success, other companies involved in aluminum production saw an opening in a new market.

In 1967, Minnesota-based Alumacraft (shown here as Aluma Craft Apex Co.) was apparently shoveling canoes out the door as fast as they could be produced.

Grumman shipped canoes by truck, among other means, to retailers large and small across the United States from its plant on Long Island.

Canoes, as popular as they were, became symbols for benefits like quiet, smooth rides—on calm days, of course.

The Linkcanoe was another attempt at perfecting what was already a pretty perfectly designed boat, in the 1940s.

The Linkcanoe was another attempt, in the 1940s, at perfecting what was already a pretty perfectly designed boat.

The old-line canoe builder Old Town expanded into the fiberglass market in the 1960s. This advertisement, for its Rushton model, claimed a weight of 18.5 pounds on the 10-foot solo boat. Cost was $195.

By the late 1950s, canoes represented the best in American outdoor life, appearing on the covers of magazines with regularity, such as this edition of Field & Stream from June 1959. There was more than a hint of nostalgia in the artwork by C. E. Monroe, Jr.

Several companies made small, gas-powered outboard motors designed to work with square-stern canoes and other similar-sized craft.

One of the famous twentieth century marathon canoe racers and designers was Eugene (Gene) Jensen, who made a name for himself racing on the Mississippi River.

The business of canoe liveries and outfitters in the lakes and rivers region of North America, including Ely, Minnesota, in 1958, allowed city dwellers to experience the joys of wilderness travel without actually owning a canoe.

Howard Zahniser was a significant figure in the American environmental movement in the 1950s and 1960s. His work on the Wilderness Act of 1964—he is credited with writing most of it—was instrumental in its final passage.

Biologist Aldo Leopold (center) accompanies his son Starker (left) on a canoe trip in the Quetico boundary waters in 1924.

Groups interested in preserving canoe country from development sprang up all over the continent. Canoes were often used as images of a free and quiet outdoors experience, including this poster with artwork by Francis Lee Jaques, ca. 1949.