St Lawrence Boat Works

hornbeam

Forester
I have recently received the gift of a St Lawrence Boat Works 16' wood/canvas canoe. The canoe has mahogany 23" decks, the thwarts and inner and outer gunwales are also mahogany. There is a Whistle-wing logo on the deck. The canoe is in excellent condition because of being stored in a barn for the last 50 years+/- . Can someone tell me about the company from which this came? I have been told that it had been made on the Rushton Indian Girl form. How common are these canoes? Any information will be greatly appreciated.
 
Yes, the St. Lawrence Boat Works literature does claim to be building on the Rushton Indian Girl forms, and surviving canoes do support this - see the attached scan of a flyer. They were in business in the early 1920s, the few dated bits of ephemera I have seen are from 1922.

There are not very many StLBW canoes around - I expect the new company name, the recovery from World War 1, and the intense competition from well-established canoe companies like Old Town, helped keep the numbers down. Plus, their location on the St. Lawrence River was more conducive to the production of St. Lawrence Skiffs and outboard boats, from a regional perspective.

There will be a little about this company in the second part of the Rushton article that will appear in the upcoming December issue of Wooden Canoe.

I would be interested in seeing photos of your canoe, and the deck decal as well...

Regards,
Dan
 

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Dan,
Thank you for your reply. I have included two photos, one of the logo and one of the name plate. I was unable to locate any serial numbers, is there an way to age this canoe?
 

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Not really any way to date - just that the company was founded by Joseph Leyare (a famous name around here...) in 1917, and he retired in 1930.

Thanks for the photos.
Dan
 
Hornbeam; Do you have any pics of the canoe? I also have a Whistle Wing, mine has a no. 13 stamped on the stem as well as a 16 which is
most likely the length.
Thanks...Dave
 
Dave,
I have taken some photos, my plan is take some more today. I looked carefully along the inner stems but I have not found any numbers yet, perhaps I will look more carefully later this afternoon.

Jody Bronson
 

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Dave,
I was not able to locate any numbers on the stem, I am almost certain that this canoe has never been refinished,this would eliminate the idea that the numbers were sanded or scraped off. The canoe was purchased new by the family who gave it to me. I am including some more photographs that I took today. Is there any particular photo angle of the canoe that you are interested in?
JodyJody's new canoe adventure 012.jpgJody's new canoe adventure 013.jpg
 
Jody,
Thanks for the pics! It would be nice to see an overall shot of the in & outside.
I hope you don't mind, but this is the only other one I have heard of. I don't think to many were made.
.....Dave P. S. I like the Willy's too!ww6.jpgww3.JPG
 
Dave,
How rare are these canoes? I am intrigued by the history of St Lawrence Boat Works and the scarcity of remaining Whistle Wing canoes. The canoe is now at my friends canoe shop, he has been professionally restoring canoes for over 35 years and he has only seen one other. Here is one more photo, I will set it up on my stand and attempt to get a full profile photo ASAP but until then here is another.
The Willys is a 1958 and the canoe is a 1940 Old Town 16' HW CS grade.
JodyJody's new canoe adventure 010.jpg
 
the company was founded by Joseph Leyare (a famous name around here...) in 1917, and he retired in 1930.
Dan

Dan, I suppose I should have asked you about the forms long ago, how they got to Oburg and how mine got to Pdam, what you know about that?
I have plowed through the old Plaindealers, couriers etc. and have not seen any evidence of someone building canoes in Pdam.....yet my form (also 16 feet) was clearly being used there. There was a steamer and a handful of ribs with it when we found it. Supposedly the foreman at the Planing Mill was a foreman at Rushton's shop and how/why my form got to live on Grant Street for 50 or so years.
I would guess that it ended up there about the same time that Levare got his but it's purely speculation on my part.
I'll be very curious to know if you have any information.
That Oburg canoe is very nice. What a great find.
I keep expecting someone to turn up one from my form as a "mystery/UFO" canoe. I've been looking for years without any luck though. Perhaps someone has what they think is an Inc. Rushton that is really a Grant or whatever.....
 
Dan, I suppose I should have asked you about the forms long ago, how they got to Oburg and how mine got to Pdam, what you know about that?

So far, all we have to go by is the brochure that I attached to an earlier post in this thread. I have not yet found anything else archiva-wise, but there is a lot of searching to do yet. The tagged St.LBW canoes do have the right shape and many of the right characteristics to support this.

It is not a reach to see how an established firm only what - 15 miles away? might see an opportunity to add to their product line. It is not as far as when Joseph Leyare up and left Clayton with the St. Lawrence River Skiff Canoe and Steam Launch Company when it moved to Ogdensburg and was renamed Spalding St. Lawrence in 1895. Leyare bought the company outright in 1905 and renamed it Leyare Boat Works. In 1913, he closed the firm and shuffled off to Buffalo. When he returned to O-burg in 1917, he founded St. Lawrence Boat Works.

Interestingly, Spalding St. Lawrence issued a catalog for their canvas covered canoes in 1900. These were made to the same designs as their all-wood canoes, though with wide, cedar ribs. As far as I know, no canvas canoe identified as a Spalding has turned up. Rollin had a St. Lawrence River Skiff, Canoe and Steam Lauch Co. canoe at Assembly a few years ago, but it is not clear if it was built as a canvas canoe originally, or an all-wood that was subsequently canvassed. In any case, Leyare returns to Ogdensburg to start up a new boatbuilding firm, the Rushton molds are available, and off they went, it appears. There are other canoes listed in the 1922 literature - two models built in either smooth-lap, hollow-and-round, or rib-and-batten. These appear to be similar in design to the Spalding canoes. It is as if the main catalog was printed, then the forms were purchased, and an extra flyer printed to advertise these.

Coincidentally, if we take associate the above brochure with the other materials accompanying it dated 1922, the "twenty-seven years experience" takes us back to 1895, when Spalding moved to Ogdensburg.

As to why we don't see many of these - Leyare was much better known for his bigger boats - St. Lawrence River Skiffs, skiff-puts, guide-boats (larger inboard power boats used by fishing guides on the River), the "Number Boats" (twenty one-design gentlemen's race boats, two of which were built for George Boldt of Boldt Castle), and so on. Also, there was a short-sharp eighteen month depression in the early twenties, and another milder one in the late twenties. As I alluded to in an earlier post, this is not really canoe country, and the local market at the time was geared more towards the skiffs and larger boats. Canoes were built along the St. Lawrence by several builders, but they were never built in any quantity it seems.
 
Dave,
Hopefully this is the photo angle of the St Lawrence you are looking for. Thanks to everyone for information on this canoe and the St Lawrence Boat Works company.
JodySt Lawrence 008.jpgSt Lawrence 007.jpg
 
Okay! We are on a roll now! Do you have any pics that you could share?
Thanks.....Dave
 

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Two photos showing stem profile and where stem band comes over onto deck. Trim is all mahogany. Thwarts have longer flats at the end that usual for canoes like Old Town.
 

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I am trying to locate a photograph of the complete decal for a St Lawrence Boat Works Whistle Wing canoe.Thank you, Jody BronsonJody's new canoe adventure 003.jpg
 
Hi Jody,

Yours may be the first decal for this company I have seen (other canoes by them had metal builders plates). Attached are a couple of logo images from sales literature that may help you complete the missing bits...

Dan
 

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