The Old Town canoe with serial number 39740 is a 17 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, Charles River model with red western cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, birch decks, birch thwarts, birch seats, and a keel. It was built between October, 1915 and January, 1916. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on March 3rd, 1916 to Boston, Mass.
The Old Town canoe with serial number 30740 is a 17 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, HW (heavy water) model with red western cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, and a keel. It was built between January and June, 1914. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on June 25th, 1914 to Schenectady, New York.
Scans showing these build records can be found by following the links at the attached thumbnail images below.
These scans and several hundred thousand more 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 renew.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. It would be great if you could post a few pictures of the serial numbers from each end this canoe. The information at
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?791 may also help you identify the unclear digit. Does this canoe have tapered ribs? Can you identify the wood used on the trim? Where was it located when originally found? What is the maximum depth amidships? Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions,
Benson