Model of an Extinct Form of Birch-Bark Canoe, Athabascan type, of British Columbia. In Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; entered in the museum catalog as of 1849.
Another kayak-form canoe of unknown tribal designation from the Mackenzie Basin was 13 feet 3 inches long, 27 inches beam over the gunwales, 8½ inches deep amidships, 8¾ inches deep at heel of stem, 10 inches deep at the aftermost thwart, and with about ⅜ inch of rocker in the forebody, none in the afterbody. The greatest beam occurred 7 feet 2 inches from the stem. The width amidships of the bottom framework of loose longitudinals was 13 inches. The length of the rake foreward was 12 inches and aft, 12 inches. The fore deck extended inboard to the second thwart, where a roll of bark formed a breakwater. The after deck extended inboard to the aftermost thwart. Between the end thwarts the sheer was practically straight; at the ends it rose gently, becoming almost a straight line as it came to the stem and stern, and without the usual upward hook in the ends of the gunwales.
This was a very light and well-built canoe with a birch-bark cover, a slightly rounded bottom athwartships, slack bilge, and flaring sides showing some curve in cross-section. The ends were rather sharp, the gunwales coming in to them almost straight, in plan, as did the chine members. The stem and stern pieces were of wide plank sharpened along their outboard edge outside the bark cover, for their whole height, to form cutwaters. The stem and stern profiles were about the same as those of the Chipewyan canoes.
An old model in the Peabody Museum of an undecked kayak-form canoe of Athabascan construction represents a high-ended canoe having ends with a slight rake and a straight cutwater. This form of canoe has long been extinct, and no description of an actual canoe of the form exists. Judging by the model it had a very narrow flat-bottom and rounded flaring sides.
The extinct bateau variant has already been described (pp. [159]-161); it might be considered a primitive form of the kayak-form bark canoes, were it not that no intermediate type, between the bateau and the later and highly developed bark kayak-form, has been found; as a result, any such statement can be no more than speculation.
Sturgeon-Nose Canoe
In southern British Columbia and in northern Washington, the ram-ended or sturgeon-nose canoes were built. These were the canoes of the Kutenai, also spelled "Kootenay," and of the Salish tribal groups. Used on rivers and lakes, they were constructed of the bark of birch, spruce, fir, white pine, or balsam, whichever was available at the building site. Wherever possible a panel of birch bark was worked in along the whole length of the gunwales. The hull form of these canoes varied somewhat, perhaps by decision of the builder, or perhaps by local tribal custom. The ends were formed with a marked "ram," the stem profiles running down and out to the "nose" in a straight or nearly straight line. In some examples the stem profiles were in a hollow curve, starting down from the gunwales rather steeply and then curving outward more gently to the nose. Most examples had a bottom that was straight or slightly hogged, while those with the hollow curve in the ram often had a slight rocker. It is believed that the intention was always to have the bottom straight but that in construction the center of the canoe lifted somewhat, thus showing a slight hog in the bottom line. The effects of loading and use on the light and flexible structure of these canoes would cause the bottom to rocker and the outboard ends to lift, thus causing the hollow in the ram profiles. These effects of loading are confirmed by tests with models of this form of canoe.
The midsection was usually quite round, almost U-shaped, on the bottom, but some canoes showed the bottom slightly flattened and the sides flared out somewhat. Toward the ends, the U-shape became marked, and near the gunwale ends the sides of the U fell inboard slightly as they came to the gunwales, the bottom of the U having a hard turn. In plan, the gunwales approached the stems without hollow, being nearly straight or even slightly convex. The ram was long and sharp in its lower level lines and this, with the form of midsection, made this model a fast-paddling canoe, though rather unstable. Most of these canoes had but one thwart, placed at midlength, but some have been found with three thwarts and a thong tie across the gunwales, close to the stems, as well.
No stem-pieces were used; the bark ends were closed by two outside battens, one on each side, whose heads were carried some 3 inches above the gunwales. A cutwater batten was placed over the edges of the bark between the battens, and the three were lashed together, with the bark, by a coarse spiral wrapping or by group ties. The bark cover was not sheathed inside; instead, six battens, ⅜ by 1½ inches, were placed on each side of the keel piece, which measured about ½ by 3 inches and tapered toward the ends. The battens, widely spaced, ran well into the ram ends, and were held in place, like sheathing, by the pressure of the ribs. The ribs, spaced 8 to 12 inches on centers, were often split saplings; sometimes they were shaped to approximately ¼ by ¾ inch. The batten nearest the gunwale on each side was lashed to every rib. In some canoes the heads of the ribs were brought up between the inwale and outwale, inside the bark cover, with their ends against the cap. The stitching of the longitudinal seam of the topside panel was passed around these frames and so helped to secure them. In one example, the ribs were passed through the bark cover just below the horizontal seam of the topside panel; there a turn of the stitching was passed around each rib; then the rib was brought inboard again in the seam by being passed between the edges of the bark cover and the panel. In many canoes there were no ribs in the ram ends, but this was not universal practice; small light ribs were sometimes placed there, with their heads caught in the closure lashing of the end.
