Old Town 126600 16

ronin

Curious about Wooden Canoes
Hi,
I'm in the process of restoring 126600 16. I would like to find out more information about the canoe from the build record.

Thanks for providing this service,
Ronin
 
Hi Ronin,

Old Town 126600 is a 16 foot CS ("common sense", or trimmed with hardwoods other than mahogany) grade Otca model canoe built between February and June of 1939. It has open spruce gunwales and a keel. No mention is made of the wood species used in decks, thwarts and seat frames, but it's probably ash or birch, with maple and oak also a possibility. The canoe was painted dark navy blue and shipped to Camp Chickagami in Winter, Wisconsin, on June 13, 1939.

I found Camp Chickagami using a Google search: http://www.indiana.edu/~chicka/
The camp was founded in 1939, so it seems your canoe was purchased for use at a brand-new camp for girls. This is interesting information that I'll simply copy and paste here, for posterity:

Camp Chickagami for Girls was ahead of its time, helping to pave the way for many of today's top camping programs. Located in picturesque Winter, Wisconsin, Chickagami was founded in 1939 by Ruth Isserman and her husband, Rabbi Ferdinand Isserman.

Ruth created the model for the camp based on her years of study of child psychology and child development; she was a pioneer in the creation of intensive staff training and provided guidance counselors at the camp long before they were seen as important. Ruth's mission was to provide a safe, nurturing, and engaging atmosphere that helped bring out the best qualities in each child through creative camping activities.

Camp Chickagami was nationally recognized as one of the outstanding programs of its kind and spawned many future leaders in the field of outdoor education and recreation. The camp closed in 1962, but was taken over by the Dominican Sisters, who renamed it Camp We-Ha-Kee. The camp continues to be an accredited camp for girls, providing a diverse, quality, camping experience.

A copy of the scan of the record for your Chickagami canoe is attached below. If this doesn't match the canoe, please let us know and we can try again. Scans of approximately 210,000 records were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. Additional information about the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/ot_records/ if you want more details.

Please join WCHA or make a tax deductible contribution so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA, http://www.wcha.org/wcha_video.php to watch a 10 minute video about WCHA and our programs and http://www.wcha.org/join.php to join. If you are already a WCHA member, THANK YOU!

Kathy
 

Attachments

  • OT126600.jpg
    OT126600.jpg
    295.7 KB · Views: 263
Kathy,
Thank you for the quick reply about the canoe and the additional information about the Camp.
Ronin
 
Back
Top