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Collectors dip paddles in vintage canoe waters

By ERIC C. RODENBERG
Antique Week Correspondent

In the world of collecting, the vintage canoe is something special.
It is something special from a utilitarian perspective; how it responds in the water to a paddle, how it rides on a thin shell in a river or lake. It is something special as an aesthetic “piece of floating art,” showcasing the individual craftsmanship of a handmade cedar-ribbed canoe with stretched canvas, all-wood mahogany or ash, or an original Native American birch bark.
It is also something special from a natural – “all green” standpoint; if the restorer doesn’t intercede – and the collector doesn’t collect – it naturally reverts back to nature, whether on the burn pile, or out in the woods.

But, beyond all that, the canoe has a special place in the history of man.

It’s not a stretch to trace the canoe back from the early 1900s to before written history, when the craft was a practical mode of transportation by Native Americans.

For the canoe collector and builder, it all seems to begin within the state of Maine. From the late 1800s until the 1920s, nearly 200 companies built and sold canoes in that one state.

“It was a tradition up here,” says Benson Gray, canoe historian and member of the board of directors of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA). “The cedar, spruce and ash came down the river, and yarded up at the saw mills … many of the traditional lumber companies found good business in making canoes. By the time the railroads had developed, Maine was shipping canoes throughout the country. … canoe building thrived back in the early part of the century.”

One of the largest companies was Old Town, named after its namesake town that sits near the Penobscot River on the edge of the Great North Woods.

“In the early days (of Old Town), of course, all the canoes were handmade,” Gray says. “And many of those workers were Native Americans, so the tradition went back years … it’s not difficult to trace that direct history back from the wood canvas to the bark … back for thousands of years with the Indians, back before written history.”

In the scheme of things, Old Town was founded relatively late within canoe history; but relatively early as an American enterprise. Gray’s great-grandfather George Alexander Gray was one of the founders of Old Town in the early 1900s. His grandfather, Samuel Braley Gray, is listed on one of the company’s old letter heads.
Although Old Town survives today (under the corporate flagship of Johnson Outdoors Ltd), it is one of the few Maine canoe companies to survive.

While studying the history of the canoe, it is easy to see fundamental changes in our nation’s history.

“Initially, canoes were useful for hunting and fishing,” says Kathryn Klos, another canoe historian and collector. “It was a rural way of travel, and then the automobile came along. That was a big change there. But, the Depression had a huge impact, then the war (World War II) – it was almost impossible to get material for building … that was pretty much the death knell. When the soldiers were returning after the war, they didn’t want a canoe – automobiles had taken over.”

In the early 1900s, the canoe was necessary gear for any modern-day Lothario.

“I think that period was the Renaissance for the canoe,” says 68-year-old Maine outfitter and collector John Magoun. “I’ve seen old photos of the Charles River (in Boston) and you could almost walk across the river by stepping from canoe to canoe.

“If a guy wanted to court a girl, a canoe was almost a necessity … it was much more peaceful. They had a bunch of cushions, music, maybe a picnic basket. It was the way to woo a girl …later, the automobile replaced the canoe.”

Today, there are collectors and restorers throughout the country. The Wooden Canoe Heritage Association numbers about 2,000 members, all interested in preserving, studying, building, restoring and using wooden and bark canoes.

Vintage canoes have seen a resurgence of interest in the past couple of years. Of course, they’re “green.”

“If you don’t take care of these canoes, it will go down the ground, completely,” says Klos, from Marquette, Mich.

But, on the other hand, unlike metal or fiberglass (which are almost cost-prohibitive to repair), “the beauty of the wood canoe is that usually the damage is reversible,” Klos adds. A hole in a fiberglass canoe is a lost cause, whereas comparable damage to a wood, canvas or birch canoe can be repaired, and will likely remain around another 100 years.

Professional restoration for a canoe can start at $400 for a simple canvas job, to around $3,000 for a full “make it like new restoration,” Gray says.

It’s the initial cost of the canoe that can be a little tricky – it can run the gamut, according to Gray.

“There’s a large divergence,” he says. “In general, something that floats - $500 wouldn’t be far off. A rare and documented canoe in very good shape, maybe on the high end, $3,000-4,000.

“Most canoe users aren’t going to dump a lot of money into a craft they’re using. A canoe restorer or collector is not out to set any bidding records. But, that’s not to say you’ll see where someone like a bond trader wants decoration for his trophy house and pays $10,000-20,000 doesn’t happen.”

For that same restorer, the vintage canoes offer much more on the water. Unlike the fiberglass or metal, there’s not that constant “chinking or clicking,” in the water, according to Klos.

“When you go through the water, it’s much more quiet,” she says. “Depending on the canoe, they’re usually faster without the effort – they glide, and turn much easier … And the birch bark, it’s like paddling a leaf. You feel everything.”

For Klos, and other canoe collectors, the study of the construction of an old canoe – built by one person from stem to stern, and not on an assembly line – speaks from a greater age of man, craftsmanship and commerce.

“I like antiques,” Klos says, “and these are the neatest kind of antique.”

8/26/2009