Old Town Inquiry

[HowieD]

I have an 18' Old Town with serial number 8089 18 (though it could be 81 6808 if read the other way). What can you tell me about the age, grade, and construction of this old timer? Much thanks in advance for any info. HowieD

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 8089 is 16 feet long so that is probably not your canoe. My guess is that you have a Carleton canoe. The Carleton canoe with serial number 8089 is an 18 foot long, A grade, Carleton model with western red cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash trim, and a keel. It was built between June, 1910 and March, 1911. (This was during the brief time period after Old Town bought the Carleton Canoe Company in March of 1910 and when the original Carleton factory burned in June of 1911.) The exterior paint color was New Haven green. It shipped on March(?) 13th, 1911 to Indainapolis, Ind. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link under the thumbnail image attached below.

These scans were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. Additional information about 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 join or contribute to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.html to join.

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

Benson