In the vicinities of Lake Athabasca and Great Slave Lake, the Chipewyan employed not only their own models of canoes but also that of the western Cree. The latter had invaded Chipewyan territory before the arrival of the first white men in the Northwest and undoubtedly had influenced canoe-building technique during the long period of the fur trade that followed. It is therefore not possible to say where the influence of Chipewyan building techniques ends and that of the Cree and the eastern Indians, as introduced through the fur-trade canoes, begins. This raises the question whether the high-ended Athabascan canoe is itself the result of influence. One may infer from Samuel Hearne's description of his travels in this area, in his Journey ... to the Northern Ocean,[1] that only the kayak-form then existed, for this type is the only one he describes, and he describes it in great detail. However, Alexander Mackenzie, in an entry in his journal for June 23, 1789, refers to the "large canoe" in a manner indicating that it was a local type. It may well be that then, as later, the kayak-form and cargo canoe existed side by side, or it may be that Mackenzie was referring to a large kayak-form canoe like the family canoe of the Alaska Yukon Indians. Perhaps the reason that Hearne did not mention the "large canoe" is that the people he met on his way to the Coppermine River, and on his way back by way of Lake Athabasca to Hudson Bay, did not then use canoes of the second model.
[1] See bibliography.
Figure 144
Chipewyan 2-Fathom hunter's canoe (top), with bent stem piece, and Athabascan 2½-fathom canoe with plank stem piece. Plank and bent stem pieces were both employed in Athabascan canoes. Spruce or birch bark were used without alteration of the design or basic construction methods.
Narrow-Bottom Canoe
Because the variations in the second model, the Algonkin-Ojibway type, are relatively slight, it will be easiest to describe this first. The canoe is known to have been built extensively by the Chipewyan, Dogrib, and Slave. The sizes most common were 16 to 22 feet over the gunwales, with a beam of between 36 and 48 inches. The sheer was usually rather straight, the sharp upward turn to the end taking place very close to the gunwale ends. Most of the bottom was straight; the rocker, if existing, occurred close to the ends of the canoe and was moderate. The midsection was dish-shaped and nearly flat across the bottom, with a rather slack, well-rounded bilge and almost straight flaring sides, the amount of flare being usually great. The bottom apparently was never dead flat athwartships, for in all known examples it was somewhat rounded. Near the ends the sections were in the shape of a V with apex rounded; the form of the ends was sharp and without hollow either at the gunwale or at the level lines. The ends of the canoes were never lofty and many had end profiles that were very long fore-and-aft and showed a marked angularity. Inwales and outwales formed the gunwale structure; some canoes also had gunwale caps which stopped well short of the end profiles. The ends of the inwales were carried to the stem-pieces; they were sharply tapered and curved to sheer, and were elaborately cross-wrapped to secure them there. The end profiles were formed of a thin plank-on-edge in most canoes, but some had stem-pieces split into laminae in the usual fashion and bent. In all cases headboards were employed; the heads were forced under the inwale ends and against the inside face of the stem-piece. The gunwale lashings were in groups, although some canoes exist in which the outwale was omitted and the lashing was continuous; these canoes usually had laminated bent stem-pieces and their stem lashing was identical with that of the Algonkin-Ojibway fur-trade canoes. This departure, it is reasonable to assume, was the result of outside influence on the Athabascan technique. When the stem-piece was of thin plank, the bark was usually fastened to it by multiple turns of two thongs passed, one from each side, through the bark and through holes bored in the stem.
Figure 145
Athabascan Cargo or Family Canoes With Bent Stem Pieces, Chipewyan 2½-fathom (top) and Dogrib 3-fathom. These canoes were covered with spruce or birch bark.