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Canoes: A Natural History in North America

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

ISBN(s)

9780816681174 (hardcover)

Subject

Citable Link

Resources
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Filtering by: Format image Section Chapter 2: Birch-Bark Canoes

Start Over

An oil painting of Cartier and crew on canoes in the water; larger ships are in the background.

Jacques Cartier Discovering the St. Lawrence River

An oil painting of two canoes in the water near a small waterfall. Several other canoes are being portaged up a hill and around the waterfall behind them.

White Mud Portage, Saulteaux

A painting of about eight figures (some babies or children) paddling a canoe.

Canoe of the Indians

An illustration of a birch-bark canoe and a paddle. The ends of the canoe are shaped similarly to the ends of the Kutenai canoe.

Amur River Valley Canoe

An oil painting of three figures collecting wild rice in a birch-bark canoe. Additional canoes and rice collectors are in the background.

Rice Gatherers

A black and white photograph of seven men standing or sitting in a small fleet of birch-bark caones by a dock on a lake.

Expedition to Michican's Upper Peninsula and Lake Superior

A black and white illustration of five people working on or around various birch-bark canoes on the shore of the lake. In the foreground are three birch-bark canoes, and in the background is the smoke from a fire near a wigwam.

Indians Making Birch Bark Canoes

A color photograph of a birch-bark canoe.

Birch-Bark Canoe

Solitary paddler sits in a birch-bark canoe at Moose Factory, Ontario.

Solitary Paddler at Moose Factory

A black and white photograph of a group of people on the shore of a lake. A group of men relax on the sand as a woman sits in a canoe and a man points a gun across the lake.

Picnic along Shore of Lake, near Mouth of Socateau

A black-and-white photograph depicting the process of building a birch-bark canoe. Stakes are in the ground forming an outline of a canoe. Bark is arranged to form canoe walls. Several figures are in the photograph working on this project.

Setting a Frame

A group of scattered forest rangers, sitting, socializing, and relaxing on the grass alongside canoes. A cabin is in the background.

Forest Rangers

Edwin Tappan Adney, the expert on bark canoes, studies one of his models in 1896.

Edwin Tappan Adney

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"

A black-and-white photograph of several birch-bark canoes lined up.

Tetes de Boule Canoes

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

A black and white photograph of a man bent over a birch-bark canoe on the shore of a lake. Large teepees are visible in the background of the photo. Hand written text on the photograph reads "Mending his canoe. Linde."

Mending His Canoe

A black-and-white photograph of a figure kneeling in and paddling a canoe.

Kneeling in Canoe

A black-and-white photograph of two figures. A line is cut down the center of the downed log and they are peeling the bark from the tree.

Splitting the Bark

A black-and-white photograph of a figure holding a roll of birch bark on their back.

Rolling the Bark