E.M. White origin??

[woodfyr]

Just got in an early E.M. White. Oval Tag on bow reads:

Manufactured by
WHITE CANOE CO.
Inc.
OLD TOWN MAINE
USA

Serial Number on interior stem reads: 15 - 43 959 (spacing as shown)

Requesting year built.

 

[Benson Gray]

There are no known existing White serial number records available so no one here can give you any more details. The messages at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?8883 and http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?8824 have some information about similar canoes. There is a theory that during the 1940s and early 1950s White put serial numbers in their canoes which had a two digit length followed by a two digit year and a sequential serial number. This means that you might have a 15 foot long canoe from 1943 which was the 959th one numbered but there is no way to verify this guess.

Benson

 

[woodfyr]

Thanks Benson,

Figured that was the case. The theory seems to work, at least in this case.

 

[Benson Gray]

I just spoke with Euclide (Joe) Lavoie about this. He is probably the only person left who can give any first hand information on this topic and he confirmed that they did put a two digit year in the stem numbers. Joe started at White in 1945 and it was being done on their wooden canoes from then until he left for Old Town in the 1960s. All of the company records were destroyed when H. E. Sargent's construction company purchased White so we don't have anything else to confirm this.

Benson