Figure 128
Models of Fur-Trade Canoes, top to bottom: 2½-fathom Ottawa River Algonkin canoe, Hudson's Bay Company express canoe, 3½-fathom Têtes de Boule "Iroquois" canoe, 3¾-fathom Lake Timagami canoe, 5-fathom fur-trade canoe of early type, and 5-fathom Hudson's Bay Company canoe built in northwestern Quebec Province.
Although no regulations appear to have been set up by the fur companies to govern the size, model, construction or finish of these canoes, custom and the requirements of usage appear to have been satisfactory guides, having been established by practical experience. As a result, the length of canoes varied and the classification by "fathoms" or feet must be accepted as no more than approximate.
The form of the canoe was determined by the use to which it was to be put, in trade or in travel. Fur-trade accounts often mention the "light canoe," or canot léger, often misspelled in various ways in early English accounts, and this class of canoe was always mentioned where speed was necessary. Commonly, the light canoe was merely a trade canoe lightly burdened. Due to the narrow bottom of these canoes, they became long and narrow on the waterline when not heavily loaded and so could be paddled very rapidly. It is true, however, that some "express canoes" were built for fast paddling. These were merely the common trade models with less beam than usual at gunwale and across the bottom. Some posts made a specialty of building such canoes, often handsomely painted, for the use of officials of the company, or of the church or government, during "inspection" trips. Not all of the highly finished canoes were of the narrow form, however, as some were built wide for capacity rather than for high speed.
Figure 129
"Fur-Trade Maître Canot With Passengers." From an oil painting by Hopkins (Public Archives of Canada photo).
The fur traders used not only the so-called fur-trade canoes, of course, but they employed various Indian types when small canoes were required. And in the construction of the high-ended fur-trade models, they did not limit themselves to canoes of relatively great length. Each "canoe road" forming the main lines of travel in the old fur-trade had requirements that affected the size of the canoes employed on it. The largest size of fur-trade canoe, the standard 5½-fathom (bottom length), was employed only on the Montreal-Great Lakes route, in the days before this run was taken over by bateaux, schooners, sloops, and later, by steamers. At the western end of this route, a smaller 4-or 4½-fathom canoe came into use. The latter was used on the long run into the northwest. Even smaller canoes were often employed by the northern posts; the 3-or 3½-fathom sizes were popular where the canoe routes were very difficult to operate. For use on some of the large northern lakes, the large canoes of the Montreal-Great Lakes run were introduced. Fur coming east from the Athabasca might thus be transported in canoes of varying size along the way.
In judging the size of the canoe mentioned in a fur-trader's journal, it is often very difficult to be certain whether the measurement he is employing is bottom or gunwale length. In the largest canoes, however, the 5½-fathom bottom-length was the 6-fathom gunwale length, and the use of either usually, but not always, indicates the method of measurement. This is not the case in the small canoe however, where the matter must too often be left to guesswork. To give the reader a more precise idea of the sizes of the canoes last employed in the fur trade, the following will serve. The maître canot of the Montreal-Great Lakes run was commonly about 36 feet overall, or about 32 feet 9 inches over the gunwales, and a little over 32 feet on the bottom. The beam at gunwale was roughly 66 inches (inside the gunwales) or about 68-70 inches extreme beam. The width of the building frame that formed the bottom would be somewhere around 42 inches. The depth amidships, from bottom to top of gunwale might be approximately 30-32 inches and the height of the stems roughly 54 inches. These dimensions might be best described as average, since canoes with gunwale length given as 6 fathoms were built a number of inches wider or narrower, and deeper or shallower. The earlier fur-trade canoes of the French and of the North West Company, for example, were apparently narrower than the above.