Harold Blumer

[HEBlumer]

I have just acquired an old square stern Old Town Canoe which I am about to restore... some serious damage on one side and some rot in other areas.. Would Like to know how old the Canoe is and anything else of interest in the archives. The serial number is 340594 - 15. This is my first time using this web site... Have recently joined the new Canoe Heritage Museum at Spooner Wis and am about to join WCHA. Will have lots more questions as I get into this restoration job..

Not sure how this works so will provide my email address here in the message... heblumer@centurylink.net

 

[pklonowski]

Welcome to the WCHA! You'll find folks here are more than happy to share knowledge & info, and if you live where another member, or a local cahpter, exists, you'll find lots of hands-on help. Check here (http://wcha.org/chapters.php) for local chapter info. And we like pictures, so by all means, post them with questions, or just to say "here's a progress report..." or any other reason you can think of to post...

Unfortunately, I think the Old Town records that people have end around 200,000, so the only way to get the build information (if it exists) is directly from Old Town. www.oldtowncanoe.com

Assuming this is a wood & canvas canoe, you'll want a copy of Jerry Stelmok & Rollin Thurlow's book, "The Wood And Canvas Canoe", available at the WCHA store: http://store.wcha.org/product.php?productid=17536&cat=75&page=1 or maybe your local library, or Ebay, Amazon.com, and probably other sources. Another good one is Jerry's "Building the Maine Guide Canoe": http://store.wcha.org/product.php?productid=17532&cat=75&page=1
These have lots of information on building & restoring w/c canoes, and are some good reading, too!

We'll look forward to your questions, and pictures...

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Hello Harold-- and welcome to the WCHA! The museum in Spooner is a great place.

My guess is your canoe's serial number is actually 140594-- our numbers only go up to 210999 and the serial number beginning with a one appears to match your boat.

Old Town 140594 is a 15 foot CS (common sense or middle) grade square end paddling canoe that was completed August to December 1944 (lots of history in that time frame!) with red Western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, ash decks/thwarts/seats, half ribs, outside stems and a keel. Originally it appears to have been a two-tone combination of dark green and guide special green. It was originally shipped to Gladstone, MI, on January 2, 1945. Image of the scan of this record is attached below-- click on it to get a larger image.

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/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.php 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.

Kathy

 

[Dave Osborn]

Welcome, Harold!