Chestnut Snowshoes

Bruce Whittington

Curious about Wooden Canoes
My stepdaughter's partner lost his father a while back. He inherited a Chestnut canoe, model unknown as it is still in northern BC. He had seen my restored Chestnut Cronje and was interested in learning more about them. He also inherited three pairs of Chestnut snowshoes and he recently gave me one pair (I think this is the bribe so I will help him with his canoe . . .) I'm curious to know more about them.(The leather harnesses were made by his dad, and are very supple and no mildew). From threads on the forum I suspect these are late-vintage; they have what looks like rubber-stamped printing on the underside, the company name and the size, 12x60 (they actually measure 11 and a bit by 63 and a bit). On the upper surface of the fore crossbar there appears to be a bit of adhesive remaining. I have heard about Chestnut decals but wonder if near the end they used adhesive labels? And last question, I gather it is okay to varnish these? I would use marine spar varnish, not urethane. I might use them very occasionally so mostly just want to protect them.
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Great score! That type of shoe is known as an "Ojibwa" pattern, with the pointed forward end, and 12" x 60" was probably the most common size. They are designed to do well in deep snow (thus the high turn-up on the tips to get them up on top of the snow for beginning your next step) and best in pretty open terrain. The long tail is to make them track well as it drags behind, functioning kind of like a keel. As snowshoes go, they are also one of the largest patterns for good carrying capacity. You can go over them with a little sandpaper to help ease any rough spots on the wood and then varnish them well. Not only does this protect the wood, it keeps the rawhide lacing from absorbing moisture and stretching. Store them in a place where they aren't likely to be encountered by mice, as they can eat rawhide.

The places where that type doesn't do so well would be steep slopes (they can slide out from under you) and thick brushy areas because of their length limiting your maneuverability. I don't know whether Chestnut was actually making their snowshoes themselves or just sticking their labels on something made for them. Those Ojibwa shoes are a dead ringer for those made by Snowcraft, one of the major producers of traditional shoes back in the day. The Ojibwa shoes in this photo are old Snowcraft shoes, though I pulled the rivets at the ends and rawhide-wrapped them instead - primitive old style. If you are new to snowshoeing, be advised that you shouldn't expect to float high on top of deep powdery snow, as it's not likely to happen. Trying the same thing without them will shown you how valuable they are though. Also take it easy at first. They will quickly point out that you have muscles on the inside of your thighs that aren't used to being used much for walking. :)

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Todd, thanks for this most helpful information (as usual on this forum). The last time I used snowshoes was (yikes!) about 60 years ago as a Boy Scout in Ontario. They were more like your Yukon style, and fastened with lengths of lamp wick, which I found ingenious and surprisingly sound. My brother-in-law and his wife ski and snowshoe at Mount Washington here on Vancouver Island, and often ask if we will join them. I think they use high-tech type snowshoes, and it is mostly on groomed trails etc. But it would be fun to try them--they get lots of snow up there. We don't get much around home, and usually it is wet, but sometimes we get a dump of nice fluffy snow, and I will give these a try around home if we do. By the way, I notice that the cross bars on mine are narrowed at the ends compared to your Ojibwas; I don't know if that means a different factory, or just evolving manufacturing processes.
 
Doing a little digging I found this and fairly far down in the text it says that Chestnut also supplied the armed forces with thousands of pairs of snowshoes. That would indicate that they were most likely building them themselves, rather than just dealing them.

Fredericton City Hall, York Street Audio Tour, Fredericton Heritage Trust, New Brunswick, Canada (heritagefredericton.org)

You may not be as fast on a prepared trail as your relatives will be on their little aluminum-framed snowshoes, but at least you will win the style points - especially with a bamboo XC ski pole for support. If you can find an old red/black buffalo plaid suit with a Mackinaw jacket and matching knickers you will even get bonus points.
 
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The catalogues show lots of pictures of snowshoe manufacturing at the factory. Here's a set of 13x52 with a decal underfoot. Not sure how old they are.
 

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Great information, Todd. Not expected on a forum about wooden canoes, but I can reminisce on use and shape of snowshoes which, like canoes / kayaks were once hand made and now are mass produced and discarded when broken. The Vermont Forestry Division issued me a new pair of Tubbs green mountain bear paws in 1973. They are great for most winter days here after fresh snow settles a little as long as there is no icy crust. Fresh, deep, fluffy snow? Change plans and stay close to the office or the road because lifting each foot and snowshoe halfway up to knee height to get them above the snow surface before stepping forward gets old fast! However, I now have a pair of Pickerel/Alaskan snowshoes that we’re my dad’s and they make all the difference on those infrequent deep, soft snow days. The other extremely bad conditions for the green mountain bear paws is a thick icy crust. Without the ice cleats of all the newer aluminum or plastic snowshoes, those wood and neoprene snowshoes have all the traction of flying saucers. They took me on several unplanned downhill rides between or into the trees. :). The bear paws, modified with some home made traction, replaced snapped cross bar, layers of varnish and several binding replacements stayed with the State of Vermont when I retired 6 years ago. Truth be told, I purchased a rugged pair of aluminum mountaineering snowshoes with crampons some time ago as my “go to.” snowshoes, but I love getting out the ash and rawhide pickerels or cross country’s when the snow’s a bit soft and everyone else is post holing on their lightweight, mass market, recreational snowshoes.
 
My dad has a pair of Iverson's in the Ojibwa pattern, a lot like yours, and I have a pair of Iverson's "Modified Bear Paw." It's been years now since we've snow showed together (he's 85) but I do remember his giving more flotation than mine, but the pointed ends do catch more brush, like Todd has already said. No matter though. It's an excellent design.
A snowshoe is helpful even in shallow snow, because your foot doesn't slide backwards, so you can take long strides. (You probably already know this.)

If you want to have a really natural feel, wear them with moccasins. You'll be that much lighter and freer and will probably be lighter footed than your rubber-booted friends with their aluminum snowshoes. Make a pair that'll fit over two to three pairs of wool socks, and you'll be very comfortable. I mean, if you're going for class, you might as well keep going with it. ;) Mocs are really very easy to make. The pair I'm wearing, which are an Iroquois design, took just over an hour from layout to wearing--and that's hand stitching. If this interests you, I could show how to make a pattern to get you started.

Mud
 
There's a blast from the past. It inspired me to dig around in the closet and find my pair of Palmer McLellan moccasin pack shoes and give them a fresh coat of wax. I bought them specifically for snowshoeing about 50 years ago from a mail order outfitter in Massachusetts called "Moor and Mountain". Looks like they will still work OK. I'm not so sure about me though.....

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Oh man... those moccasins bring back memories. I bought a pair of the Palmer low moccasins (double sole) on my first Algonquin trip in 1968. They have disappeared after several moves, and I regret the loss. Best moccasins ever! If I recall, they have a strip of leather continuous from the sole which extends up the heel, thereby avoiding the seam which wears out on other double-sole mocs.

I too remember Moor & Mountain! Sort of like Skyline Outfitters in Keene, NY which long-preceded the current go-to shop, Mountain Man in Keene Valley, NY
 
Those look neat!

Here's a pic of the Iroquois design I like to make. One seam up the front; one seam down the heal. No gathering, no fuss. Easy as pie. Soft sole so you feel the earth beneath your step and can curl your foot as you go. Very in touch. This pair is big enough for two decent wool socks. For the summer, I make them smaller so it's just leather against my skin. Very nice feel, and as light as you can be.
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Hi,

As the owner of several pairs of Chestnut ‘Ojibway’ snowshoes, I found this topic to be of particular interest, especially the stamped company identifier on the OP author’s shoes. (You’ll see the word spelled Ojibwe, Ojibwa, and Ojibway, but Chestnut referred to them as Ojibway.)

I obtained the first pair, Chestnut 12 x 60’s, about five years ago, along with an unmarked pair of 11 x 54’s, from a neighbour who was downsizing, and last year, another pair of Chestnut 12 x 60’s, found in a local antique store. On the unmarked pair, there is an outline in the varnish of a decal, but it’s not the same shape as the Chestnut decal. The three pairs of snowshoes, however, are similar in every way. It’s possible that the unmarked pair could have been manufactured by Chestnut and sold under a private label, as was the case for some of its canoes. (By the way, as with the OP’s shoes, on all three pairs, the size markings are on the frame adjacent to the front crossbar, not on it.)

After Chestnut closed its doors, the assets, including the canoe forms, were dispersed. It is not unreasonable to assume that the snowshoe forms and related materials could have been acquired by former Chestnut workers experienced in snowshoe construction, who then continued manufacturing them. Lacking the Chestnut decals, perhaps the rubber-stamped name was used to maintain the marketing tie with the well-known former manufacturer. Of course, it’s also possible that the company, struggling in the last years, simply stamped them, to avoid the expense of ordering another batch of decals.

Until they folded in 1978, Chestnut always set the ‘gold standard’ in Canada for snowshoe manufacturing, and that activity was a very important revenue stream for the company. In his book WHILE THE CHESTNUT WAS IN FLOWER, author Roger MacGregor explains why canoe building and snowshoe manufacturing are such complimentary businesses.

He relates, “Soon after it started building canoes, the Chestnut Canoe Co. also began making snowshoes. Like canoe building, this art was also adopted from the native people who practiced it as part of their ancient culture……..”

He goes on to say that, “The adoption of snowshoe-making was not incidental. When practiced on a commercial scale, canoe building is notorious because it uses its labour and its production facilities to the full only during the fall and winter. This is when the stock of canoes has to be built for the orders which come at a rush in the spring. It must have become apparent early on that the business would benefit if it could make some commodity in the warm season to bring in sales revenue when the snow flew……”

In their 1913 Canoe Catalog, Chestnut devoted seven of the forty-eight pages to their snowshoe line, which gives an indication of the importance of that line to their business. Many of the subsequent catalogs mention that they still built snowshoes, telling interested customers to write for a copy of their snowshoe catalog.

Chestnut’s main Canadian competitors in the snowshoe field were the Wendat (Huron) natives in Lorette, Quebec, where the Huron wood-canvas canoes were also built. In 1968, ten years after the demise of Chestnut, just two of the companies there reported making over 25,000 pairs of shoes. These were marketed Canada-wide, and sold by retail department store chains such as Eaton’s, sporting goods and hardware stores, etc. Over the years, manufacture of snowshoes there has been consolidated with two companies, G-V and Faber, which can trace snowshoe manufacturing back to 1883. Only G-V makes traditional wood and rawhide snowshoes now, Faber having thrown in the towel last year and concentrating on their more modern snowshoe line.

I’ve attached some photos and additional information; a shot of the Chestnut snowshoe decal, two pages from the 1941 Snowshoe Catalog showing the Ojibway shoes offered at that time and also the Price List, which gives a good indication of the wide variety of snowshoes available, plus a photo of five pairs of my Ojibway shoes - the three pairs mentioned at the beginning of this post plus two pair attributed to the Moose River Cree first nation.

John
 

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Thanks to everyone for recent posts. I am only an occasional visitor to the forum these days but I really value the information offered so freely. John K., your information fits well with the snowshoes I have, and I find the story becomes as important as the snowshoes. It reminds me of another historical note I meant to post, but rather than hijack this thread I will post it separately in the "Open" forum. Bruce W.
 
Hi,
Over the years, manufacture of snowshoes there has been consolidated with two companies, G-V and Faber, which can trace snowshoe manufacturing back to 1883. Only G-V makes traditional wood and rawhide snowshoes now, Faber having thrown in the towel last year and concentrating on their more modern snowshoe line.

John

Interestingly, Faber used to make canoes as well.
 
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