The Carleton canoe with number 17754 started out as a 17 foot long, Indian Princess (or top) grade, Carleton model with red western cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, and mahogany seats. It was built between February and May, 1923. The original exterior paint color was bright red. It shipped on May 29th, 1923 to Lakeville, Conn. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link under the thumbnail image attached below.
This scan and several hundred thousand more were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others as you probably know well. 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 renew.
It is possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description don't match the canoe. Yes, this one appears to have been chopped. It would be a serious restoration project to recreate the missing end. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Benson