Research Tool - Annual reports on the Boatbuilding Industry - Canada (1920 - 1984)

[Murat V]

Thought I'd share an interesting resource that might be useful for research purposes. The Government of Canada issued annual reports on the country's boatbuilding industry beginning in 1920. Each issue is available for viewing as PDF. Starting in 1926, most of the documents also have lists of active boat builders organized by province, including small and large scale canoe manufacturers.

https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.829671/publication.html

The web interface is a bit cumbersome, but you can continue through the years and track when certain canoe builders were active or went out of business. A cursory glance seemed pretty accurate: Canadian Canoe Co which ceased factory operations in 1959 is not in the 1959 issue. Peterborough disappears by the 1962 issue to be replaced by Rilco Industries. Chestnut's address change from Fredericton to Oromocto is also noted. Neat to also track many of the Quebec "Huron" builders that appear in Loretteville over the years.

 

[Benson Gray]

Yes, this is a wonderful resource and helped me estimate the total canoe production in Canada versus Old Town when investigating the impact of tarrifs on canoe sales in the region as shown in the chart at the end of the thread below.

Tariffs and their impact on canoe distribution

The Old Town Canoe Company's original factory on Middle Street in Old Town, Maine is about 155 miles or 250 kilometers from the Chestnut Canoe Company's factory on York Street in Fredericton, New Brunswick. That sort of close proximity would usually create a lot of competition for customers but...

forums.wcha.org

Another great resource for the Canadian canoe builders are the Mercantile Agency Reference books as described at the links below.

Thomas' Register and Mercantile Agency Reference books

My ongoing search for information about early canoe builders has located a few surprises. The Thomas' Register of American Manufacturers from 1905 and 1910 include short listings of canoe builders as shown below. These are particularly interesting since it lists Carleton as a supplier of birch...

forums.wcha.org

Fun stuff,

Benson

 

[Murat V]

Thanks for those additional links to the Mercantile Agency books. Useful stuff!