Old town barn find serial number

[Abraham Cedarleaf]

Good morning. Found this boat in a barn near Spokane Washington. Apparently they had this boat at their property on Lake Pend Orielle in Idaho. I think that paddling this boat on that lake was a little much for their liking and they brought it back to the Spokane area 30 to 40 years ago and never took it out again. It has definitely seen some use, but overall is in excellent shape. I bought it from a picture not knowing what it was exactly. I just thought it was a beautiful design and that if it wasn’t seaworthy, it could be a great decoration with its design. A little bit of information I found leads me to believe that it is an Old Town canoe. Funny, being that it was an Old Town canoe that started my love for paddling. Not sure why the serial number starts with the length from what I’ve seen, but here goes. 17 57548. I’m sure with a little more research here I will find any answer I need to care for this canoe, however I am curious as to what I should do to care for it now. I like to use things for what they are intended, but don’t want to hurt it. This site is pretty awesome. What a fun resource. Thanks in advance for any help with this beauty. Cheers.

 

[Benson Gray]

Welcome and congratulations, it appears that you may have the Old Town canoe with serial number 57548. (The length usually follows but occasionally leads the serial number.) This is a 17 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, HW (heavy water) model with red western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, maple decks, maple thwarts, maple seats, and a keel. It was built between November, 1919 and 1920. The original exterior paint color was maroon. It shipped on April 1st, 1920 to Toledo, Ohio. A scan of this build record can be found below.

This scan and several hundred thousand others were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will donate, join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/about-wcha to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/store/membership to join.

It is possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe, although that doesn't seem likely. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson