The project I chose for year
two consisted of building a scale size burnout canoe. I chose
this project because I believe that the Native Americans that aided
and assisted the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery were invaluable
to their success and survival. Without the unselfish
sharing of information and techniques provided by the Native
American’s the corps would never have survived. The
canoe project sounded like a great idea at the time but proved to
be one of the most difficult projects I have ever undertaken.
I have been fascinated by canoes for some time and was especially
interested in trying to make it as authentic to the original method
of construction as possible. That may have been my first
mistake. Finding clear and precise information was difficult,
if not an impossible task. Within the Lewis & Clark
journals themselves, directions were very much left up to
interpretation.
Because the
Native Americans used the resources available to them, I used
cottonwood on each canoe model I tried. I live near a grove
of cottonwoods and so my husband and I harvested the wood from our
own grove of trees.
On my first
attempt, using an axe, I chopped out a vertical slit in the center
of the canoe. I then poured animal fat to start a fire in the
center of the log. Maintaining a consistent fire proved to be very
difficult. Research indicated that Native Americans would
have possibly used bear fat, however, the only animal fat I could
obtain was hog grease. This may be part of the problem as the
research indicated that bear fat produced a consistent slow
burn.
On my second attempt I decided to try coal
briquette’s to get the consistent burn that I was looking
for. I had learned that the Native Americans would have used
hot coals. I chose to use briquettes because briquettes were the
closest thing to hot coals I could simulate. I had to stay close at
hand because the coals proved to burn in an irregular pattern. I
started dumping small amounts of water and that only doused the
coals. I then had to use a spray bottle to control the
burn. This caused pangs of guilt because I was well aware
that in the 1800’s, tribes did not have access to spray
bottles to control the burn. You can’t begin to
describe the mind numbing boredom that sets in after the
4th hour of watching coals burn. Coals had to be
continually moved around and added. I was guessing how long
it takes to burn, each time I stopped to check the log had to be
cooled and a gouge tool used to scoop out the material. On
one occasion, a knothole popped out and again the project had to be
abandoned. At one point, I consulted with Diane about what to
do. Her suggestion was to hunt a bison and prepare a scapula
scraper. As this seemed rather impossible, I resorted to
continue to use chisels and tools from my husband’s tool
bench. My plan for an authentic burn out canoe has turned
into a non-authentic lesson in how NOT to burn out a
canoe.
My third and final attempt I again made a
vertical slit with a non-authentic chain saw and gouged the slit
wide enough to place the charcoal briquettes inside the slit.
Once the briquettes began to burn, I sat in my Westward Waters
chair, read an overland trail journal, and used my spray bottle to
control the burn. At one point, my book must have gotten
rather interesting because the burn got a little out of control
causing a thin spot on one side of the canoe.
The canoe is not pretty, however, I believe it
is functional and will carry cargo. I have not officially
tested the canoe for fear of my 200-hour project sinking. In
closing, this project helped me gain a greater respect for the
craftsmanship, patience, and skill of the traditional Native
American canoe builders.
Native American Canoe
