THE CANOE ITS SELECTION CARE AND USE
BY
ROBERT E. PINKERTON
Illustrated with Photographs
COPYRIGHT, 1914.
BY
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Entered at Stationer's Hall, London, England
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
. . . PAGE
. . . 13
I TYPES OF CANOES; THEIR CONSTRUCTION
. . . 17
II CANOE MODELS;
THEIR ADAPTABILITY AND USES. . . 28
III THE PADDLE
. . . 40
IV PADDLING IN BOW AND STERN; THE STROKE
. . . 45
V THE POSITION OF THE PADDLER
. . . 55
VI PADDLING A CANOE ALONE
. . . 60
VII LAKE TRAVEL
. . . 67
VIII RIVER WORK
. . . 76
IX PRECAUTIONS; BALLASTING THE CANOE
. . . 90
X THE PORTAGE; CARRYING CANOES; THEIR CARE
. . . 97
XI PACKING; VARIOUS METHODS; THEIR ADAPTABILITY
. . . 107
XII BEDS AND BEDDING
. . . 117
XIII TENTS FOR CANOEING
. . . 126
XIV COOKING UTENSILS, COOKING AND FOODS
. . . 133
XV CLOTHING
. . . 144
XVI MAKING CAMP: ADVANTAGES OF SYSTEM
. . . 155
ILLUSTRATIONS
An excellent type of the lake model birch canoe
A canvas canoe for use on large windy lakes.
A good birch for rapid-filled rivers. . . 31
Bowman beginning the draw stroke.
Bowman finishing the draw stroke. . . 48
Position for throwing the canoe.
Indian's position in paddling. . . 53
Best method of handling a canoe alone.
Canadian method of paddling. . . 59
Yoke method of carrying a canoe
. . . 97
One or more packs may be thrown on top of the first pack
. . . 112
Canoe loaded for two weeks' trip, two persons.
Canoe tent, requiring two poles and seven stakes. . . 127
THE CANOE;
ITS SELECTION, CARE AND USE
INTRODUCTION
EXPLORERS have taken canoes into nearly every quarter of the globe, even close to the North Pole, and pleasure seekers in cities have filled park lagoons with them. Thousands of men and a constantly increasing number of women plan for fifty weeks in the year on a canoe trip of two weeks, either down some civilized river or across lakes and down streams traveled only by the Indians of the north.
Across the entire continent, from Maine to Nome, Alaska, is a vast territory in which the canoe is a work horse, a carrier of burdens, as essential a part of a man's equipment as a horse on a farm.
East of the Mississippi river in the United States and east of Lake Huron in Canada are many canoe manufacturers who are turning out innumerable craft annually, supplying Hudson's Bay posts on Lake Athabasca, in Labrador, and on the MacKenzie river, the tourist in New Brunswick, the prospector on the Yukon, the explorer of the geological survey in Ungava, the gold seeker of the Porcupine, and the bank clerk in Detroit who spends his evenings about Belle Isle with his best girl in the be-cushioned bow.
The recent growth of the use of the canoe has been as wonderful, in a way, as the little craft itself. The canoe is rapidly losing that great distrust in which the public held it. It is coming into its own, bringing with it the romance of the northland, the lure of the forest, the sane, healthy pleasure of its use.
But, despite its introduction into city parks and summer resort lakes and streams, the canoe is essentially a wilderness product, essentially a wilderness craft. And the wilderness without the canoe would be a wilderness indeed, a forbidding barrier that would shut off that vast area which is the north end of our continent as effectively as though the ice of the pole itself were interposed.
From northern Minnesota straight north to the Arctic ocean, from the lower Ottawa to Hudson's Bay, from the St. Lawrence to Ungava Bay, and from the upper Athabasca to the mouth of the MacKenzie, the canoe has made possible the penetration of nearly every corner of the wilds, has permitted journeys which otherwise could be made only in winter or not at all.
It is in this great district that the use of the canoe, as essential to the inhabitants as the horse in the cow country, has been brought to its highest perfection, has accomplished the unbelievable. And, though vicious rips have been run, though great lakes have been crossed in heavy gales, in this lonely, northern land, it is in the city park lagoon, in the summer resort lake and river, that the craft has killed its hundreds, that it has aroused a great suspicion in the minds of many millions of people.
As ignorance and carelessness have killed their thousands with the unloaded firearm, so they have killed their hundreds with the canoe. The fact that the efficient firearm and the efficient canoe continue to prosper despite public prejudice is only an indication of their worth.
It is the purpose of this book to make the safe use of the canoe more universal, to show its possibilities, and to point out its abuses. Once the art of handling a canoe is learned, a man cannot propel a more efficient craft. Once he has learned to be its master, he has the key to a new world.
CHAPTER I
TYPES OF CANOES; THEIR CONSTRUCTION
SO far as construction and materials are concerned, canoes are made in three types -- the wooden, canvas, and birchbark. The birch bark will drown the other two, but it is slower, more difficult to handle, springs leaks more easily, and becomes heavy through soaking water.
The wooden canoe is speedy, but its construction makes the finest lines impossible, and fine lines mean more than beauty. They mean seaworthiness and stability and give to a canoe that quality of being alive and intelligent, of meeting waves like conquerors and not like saw logs.
The canvas canoe, when properly made of the best materials, is the best craft, although many experienced canoemen prefer the wooden variety so commonly used in Canada. The canvas canoe's construction is identical with that of the birch bark, after which it was patterned. It has, however, the advantage of an even, smooth surface, of greater rigidity, of faster lines. It retains its shape and is the superior of both the other types in withstanding hard usage. The well built, intelligently designed canvas canoe is really a wonderful craft. The best stock, careful workmanship, and the results of experiments and experiences have been combined until there is hardly room for improvement. The canvas covering has been rendered almost impervious to ordinary knocks and will often hold water when the planking and ribs have been crushed. If torn, it is easily mended.
The birchbark canoe, built by Indians, is, some things considered, the most wonderful craft of the three. For ten dollars I purchased a sixteen-foot canoe that rode six-foot rollers on Rainy Lake without taking a drop of water. For three dollars I once bought a twelve-foot birch that weighed little more than twenty pounds and never leaked a drop in an entire summer's travel.
But good canoe makers among the Indians are becoming scarce, forest fires have made it difficult to obtain good birch bark, and in many localities Indians are using the white man's canoes when they are able to buy them. Still, a good birchbark is to be had, though much care must be taken in selecting it. As a rule, it is better not to order it made, for the Indian will not do nearly so good a piece of work. Buy a canoe he has made for himself, and be on the ground when you buy it.
Get a canoe of three pieces. That is, a craft made with three separate pieces of birch bark on the bottom. One of two pieces, or of one, will buckle, or bulge, in the center. This greatly retards it. See that the bark is sound and not filled with many tiny holes, that it has been well sewed with the split and skinned roots of jack pine or cedar, that the thwarts and ribs are strong and the planking well placed in position. The planking will slip and expose the bark in a poor canoe.
Many birch canoes will warp and twist. Few are ever perfectly straight. Get one with the bottom, from bow to stern, as flat as possible. Indians have a habit of lifting the ends, thereby making an excellent craft for running rapids, but one almost impossible for the ordinary canoeman on windy lakes.
Treat your bark canoe with consideration, though you will be surprised to discover what hard knocks it will stand without showing a mark. Be specially careful when landing and embarking, keeping it away from rocks and snags. If possible, never get sand in the canoe. This, working down between bark and planking, gradually wears through the bark, a fact which furnishes one of the greatest objections to this style of canoe.
If you have an opportunity to buy a good birch from an Indian, do not care to spend the money a white man's canoe will cost, and are willing to use it carefully, you will have a craft that will keep going when wooden or canvas canoes turn to shore. But you will travel much more slowly with the same expenditure of energy, and you must always carry a can of pitch wedged in the bow. Your craft will be harder to handle, especially in a wind, and, unless you rig some sort of a low thwart or a low seat, you must kneel in the Indian's position when you paddle.
There are several varieties of wooden canoes. In Canada this type has been in constant use for many years. In some districts any canoe, canvas or wooden, made by a white man, is called a "Peterborough," the name of the city in which wooden canoes are extensively built. A woodsman told me, in the summer of 1912, of a wonderful new canoe he had seen a few days before. His enthusiasm led me to expect something marvelous.
"It had a lot of wide ribs and was covered all over with painted cloth," he said.
The man, a good woodsman, had never seen or heard of a canvas canoe. In many parts of the United States the wooden canoe of the Canadians is equally unknown.
The most common form of wooden canoe is the basswood. This is made of thin boards of basswood placed over hardwood ribs six inches apart. Strips of hardwood are used to batten the cracks. Ribs and battens are generally rounded and three-quarters of an inch wide.
Another variety is known as the longitudinal strip canoe, made of strips of cedar an inch wide running from end to end and placed over hardwood ribs similar to those in a basswood craft, but closer together. Still another is the cedar rib canoe, made entirely of ribs, with only two or three longitudinal strips besides the gunwales and keel. These ribs, or arches, are one inch wide and fitted together. The last two models are wonderfully strong canoes, though the cedar is not so tough as the basswood. The cost of the rib canoe is far above that of other models, wooden or canvas.
The cedar types are light. The basswood is when it is new. Both absorb much water, the basswood becoming especially heavy on a portage at the end of a summer which calls for the expenditure of valuable energy.
One great objection to the basswood canoe now generally on the market is that it must be kept in the water. Turned over in the sun for a few hours, it opens up until it is like a sieve. Even when in use in a hot sun the upper seams will open. Dry-kiln lumber is largely responsible. The earlier product was much better. I once saw a basswood canoe that had been in use for twenty-six years.
The construction of the wooden canoe precludes the possibilities of the best lines. I have used wooden canoes that were remarkably seaworthy, but the usual model is not to be compared with a birchbark or canvas. They seem to have a stubborn rigidity that prevents a compromise with a roller.
All wooden canoes of the Canadian model are made without seats. A cross bar or thwart is placed about ten inches above the bottom. This can be used as a seat, but it is not comfortable. The intention is to have the paddlers kneel, as all paddlers should do, resting part of the weight on the thwart and part on the knees. The question of seats and kneeling is discussed in another chapter.
The canvas canoe is simply a birchbark made by a white man, with a white man's tools, with one substituted material made by white men, and with the addition of cane seats. This adherence to the Indian model permits grace and beauty in the lines, valuable, not for the artistic effect, but for the resulting efficiency.
The canoe is made over a solid mold. Ribs two to three inches wide and about a quarter or three-eighths of an inch thick are placed on the mold. The ribs are of cedar. On top are placed thin cedar planks, or strips, generally an eighth of an inch or more thick. The ribs are fastened to gunwales and hardwood stems placed at each end. Over all is stretched tightly a piece of canvas, which is filled with a preparation and given several coats of paint and varnish. The result is a craft identical, in essentials, with the Indian's canoe, only with the canvas taking the place of the birch bark.
However, that is only a simple statement of the construction. Methods, workmanship, efficiency of materials, finishing, and general knowledge of the necessities in construction vary so that canoes of all grades are produced. There are canvas canoes whose strength is almost past belief, and there are some on the market that could not stand three hundred miles in northern waters.
But the good canvas canoe, with its solid construction, keeps its shape, offers a smooth surface to the water, is light, is buoyant, will stand very hard knocks and is, all facts considered, the best all around craft.
But much depends upon the construction. The use of clear white cedar is essential. The treatment of the canvas is most important. I have seen a canoe, in the water only two weeks, show cracks and holes due to the action of the sun alone.
The compromise which must be effected between weight and rigidity is delicate, and some makers are prone to one extreme or the other. A sixty-pound canoe, carrying two 150-pound men and one hundred and fifty or two hundred pounds of duffle, is put to severe tests in riding a heavy sea or shooting a twisting, tearing current. I once saw the inwale of a canoe snapped in two when two men were riding terrific waves. There was 170 pounds in each end of the canoe, and nothing in the center. One can readily see the stress and strain that resulted in climbing and pitching over six-foot waves.
The double or open gunwale construction is best for several reasons. Manufacturers will tell you it is stronger. It has the great advantage of permitting a thorough cleaning of the canoe, something almost impossible with the closed gunwales. Sand will get into your craft, and this will work in between the planking and the canvas, as in a birchbark. In time, the threads are worn and cut, and leaks result. With open gunwales the canoe is cleaned every time it is turned over, while a little attention will keep it entirely free from sand.
And right here the canvas canoe has a great advantage over the wooden canoe, especially the basswood craft. It can be taken from the water and turned over in the sun, and, if it is a good canoe, will not be damaged. It is kept dry and light and can be carried out of the wind so that a rising sea cannot touch it.
The planking in a canvas canoe is an important feature. The edges should be matched perfectly, and the strips should run from end to end to give the best rigidity.
The construction of the ribs and the number used is most important. The greater the load a canoe is to carry, and the rougher the water to be traversed, the more rigid must be the ribbing. Some manufacturers, to meet the need for an unusually strong canoe, "double rib" the craft, placing the ribs less than half an inch apart, or build a canoe with "half ribs," which stretch only across the bottom between the full ribs. The usual spacing of the ribs in a well-made canoe is sufficient for all ordinary usage, although it is always advisable to use a floor grating. When ribs are too far apart, or planking is not continuous from bow to stern, the canoe will bend, or "hog," in the center.
The ends should be well protected by brass bang plates which should run well under the canoe. These should be riveted solidly to the stems. Manufacturers will furnish an outside stem of hardwood, which strengthens and protects, but which, like many other things, adds weight.
Some manufacturers place keels on canoes only upon request, as a rule, unless the craft be a large freight model. There is the narrow keel, about an inch deep, which strengthens the canoe and makes handling easier on windy lakes, and the shoe keel, or broad, flat protection for the bottom where rocky river beds are to be passed over. Like the outside stems, they must be considered in the compromise which one must make in the selection of his canoe, and their use or absence depends much on what is to be done with the craft.
The selection of the manufacturer depends on several things. Some sell canoes at much lower prices than others. Perhaps the best general advice is to adapt the price to the use of the canoe. If you are going to Hudson Bay, or Lake Mistisinni, or some other place far from civilization, pay the higher price. But put the money into canoe and not polished trimmings. If you are going to paddle on a small lake or city park lagoon and never leave home, the cheaper canoe will be sufficient. Don't go to the lower extreme, however. The best is none too good where a man's life depends on his canoe. The cheapest doesn't pay, even where only a sunset paddle will be the extent of your canoeing.
CHAPTER II
CANOE MODELS; THEIR ADAPTABILITY AND USES
IN this chapter the word model applies to the lines, dimensions, and shapes of canoes. There are any number of models, some manufacturers making a dozen or more, while others make only one or two. Canoes are made twelve feet long and twenty-five or thirty. They are made twenty-six inches wide and forty-six or more.
Some canoes are built solely for speed, as the Canadian racing canoe. Others are built for general use but with speed the essential consideration. Some are built for lightness, and others for strength. Most manufacturers try to reach that point where these two qualities meet. Some canoes are wide and "tubby." Others are narrow to the point of crankiness. Some are round bottomed, and others perfectly flat. Some have straight or out-flaring sides, and others have a tumble-home, or outward bulge, of one to two inches.
Some canoes are built for racing, some for paddling in a park lagoon, some for carrying heavy loads, some for running rapids, some for climbing heavy-seas in lake travel. Some canoes will weigh from a third to a half as much more than others of the same size. Some will be stiff and heavy and others so pliant they are weak and dangerous.
All these various models are built with a purpose or to try out some freak notion of a designer. I have seen canoes that seem to have been just made, purpose, thought, or possible use never seeming to have entered the head of the builder. But, as a rule, you can find a canoe built for just what you want a canoe to do. It is built for it, but it is not quite the thing, simply because perfection is impossible.
This is essentially true in out of door life. The perfect piece of equipment, tent, cooking utensil, packing contrivance, or whatever you wish, has not been made because, of necessity, everything you take into the wilderness must be a compromise. Your canoe must be a compromise, and it is only in effecting the best possible reconciliation of divergent, contradictory factors that you can approach perfection.
For instance, a canoe suited to running rapids should have the ends raised, the bottom curved from bow to stern, that the craft may be twisted on its center, and that the current may not grip the ends. Such a canoe causes much trouble on windy lakes, for the same factor that makes it easily turned in the rapids makes it hard to keep straight in a wind.
A canoe that has good capacity and stability is slower as the greater beam and blunter bow and stern cut down the speed. A canoe that will rise with a roller, and not cut down through it, is slower than the long, tapered bow affair. The canoe with a flat bottom is more stable and more buoyant, but it has not the speed of a round-bottomed canoe.
A canoe that is perfectly rigid, made to stand great strains and carry heavy loads, is heavy on a portage, and an extremely light canoe, for the opposite reason, will not stand the strain of a long journey in rough country. A large freight canoe will ride big seas, carry a monster load, and is strong and will stand a lot of hard usage, but it is generally too heavy for one man to carry on a portage.
Thus, your canoe must be selected for the use to which you intend to put it. Length, width, depth, construction, height of ends shape of bottom, thwarts, seats, and accessories must be considered carefully. Adapt it as nearly to the use as possible. Balance weight against strength, speed against capacity and stability, weighing the relative value of each quality.
For instance, if two men wish to take a trip down the Nepisiguit or Tobigue rivers, and intend to be in the woods two weeks, they have the following to consider: One hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds should cover food and outfit. There are many rapids. Some they will run and some they will portage around.
They should have a canoe built for river work. a slightly rounded bottom and ends raised higher than the center, on the bottom, for twisting more quickly and more safely in fast water. It should be sixteen feet long and not less than thirty-two inches wide. It should have long, slim ends for speed. The depth should be twelve inches at least. It is not necessary to have much tumble-home. The weight need not be more than sixty-five pounds. Neither can it be much less and still have the craft withstand the wrenching of the rapids and contact with rocks. A shoe keel protects the craft. This is generally half an inch thick and three inches wide in the center, tapering to the ends.
Such a canoe would not do for a trip through western Ontario, where the travel is almost entirely on lakes and where there are few rapids that can be run. If the same two men intend to spend two weeks in such a country they will have the following conditions: Many broad lakes, heavy seas, many portages of varying lengths up to two miles. These demand a flat-bottomed, straight-keeled craft thirteen inches deep and thirty-four inches wide. The ends must not be high enough to catch much wind. Wide outwales help greatly in turning combers. A good tumble home adds stability and also helps keep out the waves. The weight should be between sixty-five and seventy pounds. This will enable them to make a portage in one trip, one taking a heavy pack and the other a light pack and the canoe. The straight bottom is essential in heavy winds. The canoe will not be so apt to turn and bolt. The increased depth is necessary in heavy seas, and a canoe of that weight and size should be strong enough to stand the strain of pitching and tossing.
The width should not all be in the center, but should be carried well into the ends. The blunter bow will aid in riding waves, although it will cut down on the speed.
Consider these two men planning to float down the Ohio, the Mississippi, or some of their tributaries. The length of the trip makes little difference, for supplies may be purchased every day. There are no portages, except possibly around a dam, and then an express wagon will take all their outfit in one trip. They can take all the comforts of home, if they wish, a sheet iron stove, a large tent with dining fly, canned goods and other things with which a sporting goods house catalog is filled.
They can get a seventeen-foot canoe that weighs eighty pounds, for it will not have to be carried, and the larger canoe permits taking a larger outfit. Speed does not count for much, for the current does most of the work. There are no rapids to be run. They may, however, find some ugly seas on these rivers, especially when the wind is against a strong current. For that reason a canoe adapted to lake work, with the width carried well into the ends, a tumblehome, and a depth of thirteen or fourteen inches is best.
This is for downstream work, however. If the canoe is to be used both up and down stream, it is better to get a faster craft with long tapering ends and keep ashore when the river gets ugly.
But we will imagine these two men are experienced canoemen, that they wish to penetrate the country west of Hudson Bay, or some district far north. They have these conditions: Large lakes, rapid-filled rivers, long, rough portages, the necessity of taking supplies for two or three months.
They want a canoe that will ride seas, and such a canoe can, if necessary, run rapids. So they take the straight-keeled craft and depend upon their skill to handle it in fast water. They will take a sixteen-foot canoe thirteen or fourteen inches deep, thirty or thirty-six inches wide, and of about seventy pounds weight. They will select a good make and pay a good price, for a canoe of that weight must be wonderfully well made to stand the strain to which they will put it. A saving in purchase may cost dear in the end.
They will have a canoe with a good tumblehome and one in which the width and flat floor are carried well into the bow and stern, for both these features increase the carrying capacity and buoyancy and add to the seaworthiness.
With such a craft they can carry three or four hundred pounds of equipment and food and be able to make good time and live out a good gale. They will not have too much canoe to carry on portages and every pound counts when you are to be gone two or three months. Their craft should withstand rough usage and come back sound as when it started, except for a possible patch or two on the canvas. The necessary supplies for making repairs are mentioned elsewhere.
But if these two men decide to stay at home and paddle about the park lagoon, they do not have to consider capacity, width, weight, rigidity, high ends, and whatnot. They want a craft that paddles without much effort, that has quite a bit of speed. They want a canoe that is graceful, with the high ends Indians are supposed to build, and that has a bright coat and shining gunwales and decks. They get a sixteen-foot canoe thirty-one or thirty-two inches wide, with a bottom somewhat rounded and with long, tapering ends. All these factors go for speed and ease in paddling. It will be eleven inches deep, which brings down the weight, adds to the beauty and grace, and is sufficient for the waves they will encounter. It need not have great carrying capacity, for they will never carry more than a basket of lunch. And their canoe, unsuitable for a trip in the wilderness, is as smart a looking craft, and as sufficient for their purpose, as any made.
The following are the essential factors to be remembered in selecting a canoe, it being assumed that the length is sixteen feet:
In quiet waters the depth need be no more than eleven inches. For rivers it should be twelve inches, for lake travel thirteen, and on a long journey, where the load is to be heavy, it should be fourteen.
The width may be thirty-one inches for quiet water and where speed is desired rather than capacity or stability. As greater capacity and stability are required, the width should be increased to thirty-five or thirty-six inches in the center and bow and stern broadened at the bottom and on the gunwales.
For river work the canoe should have the ends raised, the bottom bowing upward from the center, but for lake work the keel should be straight. For heavy lake work a good tumblehome is best, and to get a maximum of seaworthiness and capacity the width should run well into the ends. A rounder bottom gives speed at the sacrifice of stability. A flat bottom gives capacity and stability at the expense of speed, unless the canoe be heavily loaded. Then the flat-bottomed craft is faster.
Have open gunwales that the life of the canvas be prolonged, unless your canoe is to be used at a summer resort for pleasure only, and you use a carpet, pillows, tennis shoes, etc. Then the closed gunwale construction is much neater.
When a canoeman desires to decrease or increase the length of his craft the same general factors should be considered. One man and his pack can travel almost anywhere in a thirteen-foot canoe that should weigh fifty pounds. The depth, for rough travel, should be thirteen inches and the width at least thirty-four. A flat bottom with a good tumblehome will give better stability and capacity, necessary in so short a craft. Such a canoe can carry two men, though the length prohibits dryness in rough water.
The same general factors cover the fourteen and fifteen-foot canoes. A fifteen-foot canoe is suitable for two persons in rough lake travel if the load is not too heavy and if the beam is at least thirty-five inches and the depth thirteen inches.
If three persons intend to use one canoe, the length should be eighteen feet, though I have made a two weeks' journey on rough lakes with two other persons, complete equipment, and food in a fifteen-foot river model canoe. But it is not advisable. Too much care and exertion in heavy winds are required, the heavy load makes rapid travel too strenuous, and the craft's buoyancy is reduced to such an extent that waves easily come over the bow.
A seventeen-foot canoe, for three persons and equipment, should be thirty-six or thirty-seven inches wide and fourteen inches deep. Every foot you add puts five pounds into a canoe, and, by carrying the width toward the ends, you can get the same capacity in a sixteen-foot canoe as in a seventeen, and so on up. The greater length, on the other hand, gives more room for paddlers and duffle. Such a craft eighteen feet long should be thirty-five inches wide or more and at least thirteen inches deep.
Past the eighteen-foot class one enters the realm of the freight canoe, which may be most anything you wish. For instance, a twenty-foot canoe forty-three or forty-four inches wide and nineteen inches deep will weigh nearly two hundred pounds, but will have a capacity of about 2,300 pounds. The selection of such a canoe should depend upon the amount of freight, the nature of the going, and the efficiency of the canoemen.
Where there are four in a party, however, it is better to use two canoes of sixteen-foot length and suitable to the journey-rivers, lakes, length of trip, etc. Then, if anything happens to one party, there is still a canoe. There is an extra canoe to portage, but a canoe large enough for four would require two men in the portaging, so nothing is lost there. Better time may be made, and each of the four men may paddle more effectively.
It has not been the intention in this chapter to convey the idea that a canoe fit for rivers is unsuitable entirely, or even dangerous, for lakes, and vice versa. The object has been to point out the qualities which are essential for an efficient craft in each department of work.
CHAPTER III
THE PADDLE
THE proper paddle is essential for accurate, easy, and strong propulsion of a canoe. Though a most important feature in canoeing, comparatively little consideration is given to the selection of a paddle, even by experienced canoemen.
Paddles are made of spruce, cedar, maple, ash, and pine. The paddle most generally furnished by canoe manufacturers is made of spruce or maple. Cedar, ash, and pine paddles are generally those made by Indians for their own use.
The canoeing paddle is a single-bladed affair, although the double-bladed arrangement, usually eight and one-half to ten feet long, is sometimes used. The most efficient work is done with the single-bladed paddle, and its use is practically universal.
The first consideration in the selection of a paddle is the length. The accepted rule is that the paddle should be as long as the user is tall. This is true if paddling is done from a seat. In paddling from the knees, the paddle may be three inches shorter, though the full length is better. The rule does not apply to bow paddlers. In that position, especially if paddling is done from the knees, the implement should be three inches shorter than the height of the paddler. A bow paddler can work with a paddle a foot shorter than he is tall, but the stern man has difficulty if the paddle is six inches shorter than his height.
Two woods, spruce and maple, are chiefly used. Paddles made of spruce are thick, strong, and light. They are also very unyielding. Paddles of maple are heavy, strong, and with a certain amount of spring. The spruce paddle wears and frays quickly if used in rapids, for breaking ice in the fall, or if used for poling in shallow water. The ragged edge must be trimmed often, an operation which continually reduces the size of the blade. The spruce paddle, also because of its thickness and softness, does not enter or leave the water silently or freely.
The best paddle for all-round use is that made of maple. There is a tendency on the part of manufacturers, however, to produce a paddle too thick and heavy. Such paddles have all the deficiencies of the spruce paddle, excepting wear, without the advantage of being light, and they do not have sufficient spring.
The maple paddle will stand much more abuse, especially when used as a pole or in rapids, and the strength of the wood permits a thin blade that enters and leaves the water cleanly. Because of the heaviness of the material, the maple paddle should be made from the finest straight-grained wood, that the lightest, thinnest implement consistent with strength may be possible. The usual paddle does not come up to such a standard.
For long cruises in the wilderness the maple paddle is the superior. The spruce paddle, in fact, because of its stiffness, is entitled to a place only in a racing canoe. The experienced canoeist always tests the "spring of a paddle the moment he picks it up. For racing, the stiff, unyielding blade is desirable, but for the grind of an all-day journey, a paddle that "gives" softens the shock of quick, hard strokes. The advantage of a "springy" paddle is also felt in the recovery. If the paddle is given a final snap at the end of a stroke, the spring of the blade will shoot it forward for the next stroke with little effort on the part of the paddler.
Paddles are made with blades of several. shapes, the design varying with the district. The size of the blade is of more importance. Too large a blade makes the work too heavy; too small a blade results in wasted energy. A large blade is held almost stationary in the water, and the shock and strain on arms and shoulders are too severe. For the opposite reason, a small blade does not remain stationary in the water and does not afford a sufficient purchase for efficient propulsion or handling.
The size of the blade, of course, must depend upon the size and strength of the paddler. For the usual canoeist a blade five and one-half inches wide and two feet eight or ten inches long is sufficient.
Manufactured paddles invariably are made with a knob or grip at the end of the shaft for the upper hand. Many Indians make paddles with straight, tapering shafts. While their mode of paddling makes the straight shaft preferable, there is still a question as to the grip being essential to a white man. In any event, he can often ease strained muscles by grasping the shaft below the grip, the thumb side of the hand being nearer the blade and the back of the hand toward the paddler.
Paddles made by canoe manufacturers invariably are varnished. While this adds to the life of the paddle, it is hard on the hands. If one has a varnished paddle it is better to scrape the varnish from the shaft at the points where it is grasped. The natural wood will not blister so badly. An oiled paddle absorbs water after a time and becomes heavier. This can be avoided if the application of oil is renewed occasionally.
Any paddle, varnished or oiled, should not be left in the sun, especially after it has been long in the water. It will check, or split. Paddles should be watched and the tips trimmed when they become ragged.
An emergency paddle should always be carried. On a long trip it is essential and should be placed always within easy reach of the stern paddler. Then, in case of accident, either in rips or a heavy sea, he need not miss a stroke. Even on a sunset paddle, an emergency blade will come in handy should the one in use be dropped or broken.
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© 2000 Craig O'Donnell
May not be reproduced without my permission.
Go scan your own damn article.