cainning woven vs matt

[jwil]

Greetings and happy thanksgiving to all. I am curious to when Old Town used traditional seat cainning and when they used mechanical weave? can we date seats from the method used?
Thanks

 

[Benson Gray]

Yes, hand caned seats were replaced with the pre-woven cane alternative at Old Town as a result of the introduction of minimum wage in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The transition was gradual as they used up old stock so there are some canoes with hand caned seats that shipped well after that date. Old Town canoes with wooden slat seats date from the Second World War when cane was not available.

Benson