Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri / Edited with Notes and Biographical Sketch

by Edwin Thompson Denig

Canoes

Skin canoes are the only watercraft used by these tribes, and these are only to be found among the Mandan, Gros Ventres, and Arikara. They are made of the skins of one or two buffaloes with the hair on, not dressed, and stretched over a basketwork of willows. The women make, carry, and propel them with paddles, one person only paddling in front. A canoe of one buffalo skin will contain four persons and cross the Missouri, but they must sit very quiet or they will upset. The women carry these canoes on their backs along the bank to the place where they wish to cross, and on their return bring them to the village and turn them upside down to dry. A canoe of this kind is made in two or three hours and will last a year. Bark canoes are used by the Chippewa, but we are not well enough acquainted with their construction to describe them. When no skin can be found to make a boat war parties will cross any river on a raft.