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History of Canoeing in the North
The original canoe of North America was also the dugout, a crude and clumsy craft which did not lend itself well to land travel. A lighter and swifter craft was required to make travel easier across rugged terrain. This problem was solved by the aboriginal peoples of North America who developed canoes made from tree bark. Although any bark that could be peeled from a tree in sheet form was suitable, the bark of the white birch Betula paperifera was found to be the most desirable for canoe construction. The technology of the Birch bark canoe paid not only service to the lifestyle of the North American natives but was quickly adopted by the Europeans as an efficient means of moving people and freight across the continent. The Birch canoe is made from the skin of the white birch sewn together at the seams using the split roots of the white pine, Pinus strobus. Seams were sealed with resin also from the white pine The internal form was usually made from shaped strips of white cedar Thuja occidentalis. The result was a light, easily manoeverable, relatively durable craft. The Birch bark canoe was the workhorse of Canada in it's youth. Images are conjured up of heroic voyageurs struggling under back-breaking loads as the lucrative fur trade helped to establish Canada's first modern economy. The Yankees built the first wood and canvas canoe in a conceited quest to build a more efficient craft than the natives. Construction and design detail were borrowed largely from the technology of the birch bark canoe. The waterproofed canvas is stretched over the cedar form of the wood - canvas canoe. This is in contrast to the bark canoe wherein the internal form is added to the inside of the craft after the bark has been shaped. Although the first cedar - strips were built in 1857, the wood-canvas canoe had it's heyday at the turn of the century. With this new technology, canoeing became a trendy leisure activity for warm summer sunday afternoons. Water courtship became so popular that canoes were designed with throne - like seats and cabinets to keep refreshments. The Lakefield and Peterborough Canoe Companies in the Otonabee valley of Southern Ontario were to became famous for the quality cedarstrip - canvas canoes they produced. In 1904 the Chestnut Canoe Company was opened in Fredericton, New Brunswick eventually getting a patent on the "wood and canvas canoe construction technique'. Among canoe enthusiasts, Peterborough and Chestnut have since become synonymous with a craft that is both pleasing to the eye and a pleasure to paddle. These fine vessels were the result of of traditional native design blended with the fine woodworking skills of the European craftsmen.
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The first canoes were dugout vessels which had origins in many parts of the world where survival depended largely on water travel. The Arawak people of the West Indies are responsible for the origin of the word canoe. In the simplest sense, canoe has evolved to mean 'boat without a deck'. The canoe made possible much of the first exploration of North America through otherwise trackless conditions. In fact, until the late 19th century the express canoe was still the fastest method to cross the northern east - west span of the continent.