The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America

by Tappan Adney; Howard Irving Chapelle

The kayak-form canoes of the lower Yukon and neighboring streams all appear to have been small canoes "tailored" to their owner's weight and height: 14 to 15 feet in overall length, 2 to 2¼ feet wide, and 10 to 12 inches deep. The bottom frame was from 12 to 14 inches wide amidships.

The kayak-form canoes of the upper Yukon Valley and those used in northern British Columbia and in Yukon Territory had ends with a long rake that came up in a straight line from an angular break at the bottom line to the height of the sheer amidships or thereabouts; there a gradual upward curve continued to the stem-head. The stern was 2 inches or so higher than the bow, and the rake of the latter was usually about an equal distance longer than that of the stern. The sheer was nearly straight, with only about 2 inches of sag from the heel of the stem to that of the stern. Beyond the heels, the sheer lifted in a fair sweep, becoming sharper toward the ends, where the broadened inwales were secured on top of the stem and stern pieces. There was no rocker in the bottom, and some examples showed as much as ⅜ inch of hog amidships. The bottom was flat athwartships and the almost straight sides flared a good deal. The turn of the bilge was on a very small radius and in some canoes appeared angular. The bow deck was usually just under one-fifth the length of the canoe. Most of the canoes did not have a stern deck, at least on the Yukon headwaters, but on those that did, it was about one-ninth the length of the canoe. The greatest beam was abaft amidships and the canoe was usually about 1½ inches deeper at the heel of the sternpost than at the heel of the stem. In plan, the ends (at gunwale and bottom frame) were convex; the gunwale ends alone might appear slightly hollow close to the posts in some examples. The canoes in Alaska and British Columbia and at the headwaters of the Yukon had a rigid bottom structure, with the splint spreaders usually numbering five.

The 1-man hunting canoes were commonly 18 to 19 feet long, 24 to 27 inches beam, and usually 10 to 11 inches deep amidships. The single example of a family or cargo kayak-form that has been measured from this area was 20 feet 1 inch overall and 30¼ inches beam over the gunwales. It was 18 inches wide on the bottom frame, 13 inches deep amidships, 14 inches deep at heel of stem, and 16 inches at heel of stem-post. Height of the stem was 29 inches, of the stern 30½ inches, the after rake was 38 inches, and the fore rake 40½ inches. The canoe had no decks and was rather sharp-ended.

The kayak-form canoe of the Athabascan Loucheux had a rigid bottom-frame; the bottom was flat athwartships and it had no fore-and-aft rocker. The sides were flaring and slightly curved. Both ends were alike, and the canoe was unusual in having only five thwarts, with one amidships. The stem was short in rake and curved; the stem profile came out of the bottom line in a fair, quick curve which became vertical at a height of little more than two-thirds the depth amidships of the canoe. The height of the stem was almost twice the midship depth. Between the end thwarts the sheer was straight, thence it swept upward in a gradually sharpening curve to the inboard stems; the inwale ends stood vertical on the face of the stem, with their ends brought to the top of the stem-head. The stem-pieces were of unusually thick plank, with the head broadened and the cutwater part outside the bark cover sharpened until near the head, where it gradually became as wide as inboard. The gunwales were lashed with continuous turns, as in the Alaskan canoes. In plan, the gunwales and bottom frame were full-ended and convex. These canoes were decked equally at both ends. The deck extended inboard far enough to just cover the end thwart, to which, in the example seen, it was lashed with four simple in-and-out passes of rawhide thong. The chine-pieces of the bottom were lashed to the sides of the stem-pieces. The covering was birch bark. Two battens on each side were employed with the usual six longitudinals in the bottom frame. These canoes were well-built and their ends resemble those of the seagoing kayaks used at the mouth of the Mackenzie, but these for at least the last 70 years of their use were round-bottomed. The Loucheux canoes were small, usually about 15 feet long, 30 inches wide, and about 12 inches deep amidships.

The Chipewyan kayak-form canoe was of loose-batten bottom frame construction, with its beam well aft of amidships. Its bottom was slightly rounded athwartships, with a slight rocker fore-and-aft; the sides flared outward and were nearly straight; and the turn of the bilge was almost angular. The bow and stern were of the same general shape; the end profile came out of the bottom line with a quick hard curve and then fell outboard in a long sweep that gradually straightened near the head. The rakes were short, however, and the stem was noticeably lower than the stern, the difference being as much as 6 inches in some canoes. The sheer was nearly straight to the end thwarts and thence it curved up in an easy sweep to the ends of the canoe. The canoes were markedly deeper at the stern than at the bow; the difference being as much as 1½ inches in some examples.

This kayak-form was very sharp-ended; the gunwales in plan often showed a slight hollow and the chine members came to the posts in an almost straight V. As a result, the end ribs were often intentionally "broken" to form a narrow-based, angular U. In some Eskimo-built kayak forms, a similar result in hull section was obtained in the endmost frames by stepping short struts in splits, or tenons, on top of the chine members and on the underside of the main gunwales. This construction was occasionally found in some of the lower Yukon kayak forms. The Chipewyan kayak forms were decked at both ends. The fore deck was slightly more than one-fourth the length of the canoe and extended inboard to the second thwart; the after deck was about one-tenth, and came inboard to the end thwart. No breakwater batten or bark was employed. There were two battens on the sides, above the bilges.

The gunwale wrappings were in groups. The bark cover was not folded over the top of the inner gunwale but, as usual in the Northwest canoes, was trimmed evenly with the top of the inwale and outwale. Reinforcing bark along the gunwales extended downward about 1½ inches below the bottom of the outwales amidships and about 1 inch at the ends. Of the bottom longitudinals, the keel and chine-pieces were roughly rectangular in cross-section, laid on the flat, and the intermediate two battens were round; the ends of the keel piece were merely butted against the stems, no lashing being used. The stem piece was thick plank and was sharpened outside the bark cover to form a cutwater. The stem lashing was of the usual two-thong form, and a batten was used in the longitudinal seams of the bark cover. The thwarts, six in number, were tenoned through both inwale and outwale and pegged between them. No thwart lashings were used. The decks often were not lashed into place, being held only by the curling of the edges of the bark sheets.

This canoe was a very good one; it was light and was fitted to the owner's build. In size it would be between 12 and 14 feet long and 20 and 24 inches wide over the gunwales, and the width of bottom over the chine members amidships would be 11 to 12 inches. The greatest beam would occur 7 to 8¼ feet abaft the stem. The depth at heel of stem would be 8½ to 9½ inches and at heel of stern, 10 to 11 inches. The amount of bottom rocker would be between ¾ and 1 inch, with its low point about amidships. The cover was usually birch bark, but sometimes spruce bark was used.

Figure 153