The Carlton canoe with serial number 139212 is 16 foot long, regular grade, western red cedar planking, spruce gunwales, and birch seats, decks and thwarts, equipped with a keel. It was built in 1917-18. The original exterior paint color was bright red, with a 2” white stripe . It was shipped to Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 15, 1918, but was returned because of damage on May 13, 1918 -- two holes in the canvas and two broken ribs. The ribs were repaired, the canvas was replaced, the canoe was “refinished” and a 2” white stripe was painted. Correspondence from July, 1918 that was once attached to the build record is noted, and a final note indicates that the canoe was sold on May 12 (year not indicated) to someone in Medford, Maine A scan of the build record and the reverse side of the record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached below.
This scan and several hundred thousand others were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at
http://www.wcha.org/ot_records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See
http://www.wcha.org/about-the-wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and
http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Greg Nolan
