The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America 8

The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America 8

The bark of the paper birch was preferred for canoe building because

it could be obtained in quite large sheets clear of serious blemishes;

because its grain ran around the tree rather than along the line of

vertical tree growth, so that sheets could be "sewn" together to obtain

length in a canoe; and because the bark was resinous and not only did

not stretch and shrink as did other barks, but also had some elasticity

when green, or when kept damp. This elasticity, of course, was lost

once the bark was allowed to become dry through exposure to air and

sunshine, a factor which controlled to some extent the technique of its

employment.

 

Many other barks were employed in bark canoe construction, but in

most instances the craft were for temporary or emergency use and were

discarded after a short time. Such barks as spruce (_Picea_), elm

(_Ulmus_), chestnut (_Castenea dentata L._), hickory (_Carya_ spp.),

basswood (_Tilia_ spp.), and cottonwood (_Populus_ spp.) are said

to have been used in bark canoe construction in some parts of North

America. Birches other than the paper birch could be used, but most of

them produced bark that was thin and otherwise poor, and was considered

unsuitable for the better types of canoes. Barks other than birch

usually had rough surfaces that had to be scraped away, in order to

make the material flexible enough for canoe construction. Spruce bark

had some of the good qualities of the paper birch bark, but to a far

less degree, and was considered at best a mere substitute. Non-resinous

barks, because of their structure could not be joined together to

gain length, and their characteristic shrinkage and swelling made it

virtually impossible to keep them attached to a solid framework for any

great length of time.

 

[Illustration: Figure 5

 

OJIBWAY INDIAN carrying spruce roots, Lac Seul, Ont., 1919. (_Canadian

Geological Survey photo._)]

 

The material used for "sewing" together pieces of birch bark was most

commonly the root of the black spruce (_Picea mariana_ (Mill.) B.S.P.),

which grows in much of the area where the paper birch exists. The root

of this particular spruce is long but of small diameter; it is tough,

durable, and flexible enough for the purpose. The tree usually grows

in soft, moist ground, so that the long roots are commonly very close

to the surface, where they could easily be dug up with a sharp stick

or with the hands. In some areas of favorable growing conditions, the

roots of the black spruce could be obtained in lengths up to 20 feet,

yet with a maximum diameter no larger than that of a lead pencil.

 

[Illustration: Figure 6

 

ROLL OF BARK FOR A HUNTING CANOE. Holding the bark is the intended

builder, Vincent Mikans, then (in 1927), at age 100, the oldest Indian

on the Algonkin Reserve at Golden Lake, Ont.]

 

Other roots could be used in an emergency, such as those of the other

spruces, as well as of the northern white-cedar (_Thuja occidentalis_

L.), tamarack (hackmatack or eastern larch) (_Laris laricina_ (Du Roi)

K. Koch) and jack pine (_pinus banksiana_ Lamb.), the last named being

used extensively by some of the western tribes. Although inferior to

the black spruce for sewing, these and other materials were used for

sewing bark; even rawhide was employed for some purposes in canoe

construction by certain tribes.

 

Canoes built of nonresinous barks were usually lashed, instead of sewn,

by thongs of such material as the inner bark of the northern white

cedar, basswood, elm, or hickory, for the reason stated earlier. Spruce

root was also used for lashings, if readily available. Since sheets of

birch bark were joined without employing a needle, the sewing actually

could more correctly be termed lacing, rather than stitching. But for

the nonresinous barks, which could stand little sewing or lacing,

perhaps lashing is the better term.

 

Before steel tools became available to the Indians, the woodwork

required in constructing a birch-bark canoe represented great labor,

since stone tools having poor cutting characteristics were used.

Selection of the proper wood was therefore a vital consideration. In

most sections of the bark canoe area, the northern white cedar was

the most sought-for wood for canoe construction. This timber had the

excellent characteristic of splitting cleanly and readily when dry and

well-seasoned. As a result, the Indian could either utilize fallen

timber of this species, windblown or torn up in spring floods; with the

crude means available he could fell a suitable tree well in advance of

his needs; or he could girdle the tree so that it would die and season

on the stump and then fell it at his convenience. If split properly,

ribs of white cedar could be bent and set in shape by the use of hot

water. In many areas the ribs, sheathing, and the gunwale members of

bark canoes were made of this wood, as were also the headboards and

stem pieces.

 

[Illustration: Figure 7

 

White cedar Black spruce

 

Wood-splitting techniques]

 

Black spruce was also employed, as it too would split well, although

only when green. This wood also required a different direction in

splitting than the white cedar. Ribs of black spruce could be bent and

set in shape when this was done while the wood was green. In some areas

black spruce was used in place of white cedar for all parts of a bark

canoe structure.

 

Hard maple (usually either _Acer saccharum_ Marsh. or _A. nigrum_

Michx.), can be split rather easily while green; this wood was used

for the crosspieces or thwarts that hold the gunwales apart and for

paddles. Larch, particularly western larch (_Larix occidentalis_

Nutt.), was used in some areas for canoe members. White and black ash

(_Fraxinus americana_ L. and _F. nigra_ Marsh.), were also used where

suitable wood of these species was available. In the northwest, spruce

and various pines were employed, as was also willow (_Salix_). It

should be noted that the use of many woods in bark canoe construction

can be identified only in the period after steel tools became

available; it must be assumed that the range of selection was much

narrower in prehistoric times.

 

To make a bark cover watertight, it is necessary to coat all seams

and to cover all "sewing" with a waterproof material, of which the

most favored by the Indians was "spruce gum," the resin obtained from

black or white spruce (_Picea mariana_ or _P. glauca_ (Moench) Voss).

The resin of the red spruce (_Picea rubens_ Sarg.) was not used, so

far as has been discovered. The soft resin was scraped from a fallen

tree or from one damaged in summer. Spruce gum could be accumulated by

stripping a narrow length of bark from trees early in the spring and

then, during warm weather, gathering the resin that appeared at the

bottoms of the scars thus made. It was melted or heated in various ways

to make it workable and certain materials were usually added to make it

durable in use.

 

[Illustration: Figure 8

 

Stone axe]

 

The most important aids to the Indian in canoe construction were his

patience, knowledge of the working qualities of materials, his manual

skill with the crude cutting, scraping, and boring instruments known

to him, and of course fire; time was, perforce, of less importance. The

canoe builder had to learn by experience and close observation how to

work the material available. The wood-working tools of the stone age

were relatively inefficient, but with care and skill could be used with

remarkable precision and neatness.

 

Felling of trees was accomplished by use of a stone axe, hatchet, or

adze, combined with the use of fire. The method almost universally

employed by primitive people was followed. The tree was first girdled

by striking it with the stone tool to loosen and raise the wood fibers

and remove the soft green bark. Above this girdle the trunk was daubed

all around with wet earth, or preferably clay. A large, hot fire was

then built around the base of the tree and, after the loose fibers were

burned away and the wood well charred, the char was removed by blows

from the stone tool. The process was repeated until the trunk was cut

through enough for the tree to fall. The fallen trunk could be cut into

sections by employing the same methods, mud being laid on each side

of the "cut" to prevent the fire from spreading along the trunk. Fire

could also be used to cut down poles and small trees, to cut them into

sections, and to sharpen the ends into points to form crude wedges or

stakes.

 

Stone tools were formed by chipping flint, jasper, or other forms of

quartz, such as chalcedony, into flakes with sharp edges. This was done

by striking the nodule of stone a sharp blow with another stone held

in the hand or mounted in a handle of hide or wood to form a stone

hammer. The flakes were then shaped by pressing the edges with a horn

point--say, part of a deer antler--to force a chip from the flake. The

chipping tool was sometimes fitted with a hide or wood handle set at

right angles to the tool, so that its head could be hit with a stone or

horn hammer. The flake being worked upon, if small, was often held in

the hand, which was protected from the slipping of a chipping tool by

a pad of rawhide. Heat was not used in chipping, and some Indians took

care to keep the flake damp while working it, occasionally burying the

flake for a while in moist soil. The cutting edge of a stone tool could

be ground by abrasion on a hard piece of granite or on sandstone, but

the final degree of sharpness depended upon the qualities of the stone

being used as a tool. Slate could be used in tools in spite of its

brittleness. In general, stone tools were unsuitable for chopping or

whittling wood.

 

[Illustration: Figure 9

 

Stone hammer

 

Stone wedge

 

Stone knife with rawhide thong handle]

 

Splitting was done by starting the split at the upper, or small end, of

a balk of timber with a maul and a stone wedge or the blade of a stone

axe, hatchet, or knife. The stone knives used for this work were not

finished tools with wood handles, but rather, as the blade was often

damaged in use, selected flakes fitted with hide pads that served as

a handle. The tool was usually driven into the wood with blows from a

wooden club or maul, the brittle stone tool being protected from damage

by a pad of rawhide secured to the top, or head, of the tool. Once the

split was started, it could be continued by driving more wedges, or

pointed sticks, into the split; this process was continued until the

whole balk was divided. White cedar was split into quarters by this

method and then the heartwood was split away, the latter being used for

canoe structural members. From short balks of the length of the longest

rib or perhaps a little more, were split battens equal in thickness

to two ribs and in width also equal to two, so that by splitting one

batten two ways four finished ribs were produced. The broad faces

of the ribs were as nearly parallel to the bark side of the wood as

possible, as the ribs would bend satisfactorily toward or away from the

bark side only. Black spruce, however, was split in line with the wood

rays, from the heart outward toward the bark, so that one of the rib's

narrow edges faced the bark side; only in this direction would the wood

split readily and only when made this way would the ribs bend without great breakage.