Old Family Canoe | SouthernPaddler.com

Old Family Canoe

islandpiper

Well-Known Member
I am on the road this week, visiting my mother in Northern (GD Cold) Wisconsin. We have been sorting through old family pictures and came across this one, a shot of a delightful young lady, a family friend of my grandmother, paddling the family canoe in 1909, in southern wisconsin.

Interesting design to the canoe. I can't tell if it is just strip built or canvassed....hmmm.

Piper


Jansen%20Friend%201909.jpg
 

bearridge

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2005
3,092
4
way down yonder
what a stylish hat!!!! :mrgreen:

It is sobering to reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence. Charles A. Beard
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
You call that stylish young lady a STRIPPER??!! Shame on you.

The stem ends of that canoe are of the Kootenay design. Cal Rutstrum's North American Canoe Country, University of Minnesota Press, reprinted in paper back 1992, page# 20 shows a picture of it. (Here, I'm holding the book up for you to see.) It provides a longer waterline with less wind signature, and improved water deflecting. Rutstrum liked it except he had to sit amidships instead of aft, and had reduced maneuverability.
 

islandpiper

Well-Known Member
Jack, that makes sense in terms of hydraulics and it is obvious that the paddler here probably weighs under 100 pounds and is lifting the bow out of the water. The low cut bow and stern would be welcome making a long crossing with a quartering wind.

I think she made up for the design-reduced windage with that bonnet.

Lots of other pictures, including the family veterans of the Civil War (War of Northern Agression) and OLD family cars.

Piper