Howie
Wooden Canoe Maniac
I was touring the US & Canadian Northwest national parks in June when I stumbled across two giant wood/canvas canoes at the boat house in Lake Louise. I thought you folks would like to see some pics.
Shortly after arriving at Lake Louise I looked over to my left, and in the distance I could see a boat house and some canoes.
Using the zoom on my camera I spotted what I thought were the distinctive 'peaks' of the fore & aft ends of a wooden canoe. After mumbling some excuses to my wife I abandoned her and hurried over to see more. When I arrived I found the dock area closed off to visitors, but after explaining that I was a wooden canoe nut (my WCHA hat helped attest to this) I was ushered over to the canoe by my new buddy Bruce Bembridge who's the naturalist for the site. What I had seen in the distance was a gorgeous huge War or Freighter canoe.
Bruce tells me it's a Chestnut, measuring about 25' long x 51" wide. Then to my further surprise Bruce leads me into the storage shed alongside the dock where they have a second identical canoe! The canoes have their original canvas and in great shape. As you can imagine, the ribs are massive - as are the gunnels! Bruce tells me that the only changes made to the canoe are that the original cane seats were replaced with wooden slabs - but they still have the original seats up in the shed's rafters!
Bruce tells me that they were made in 1967 for Canada's Centennial year. Apparently 10 were made and were used in a marathon race from Rocky Mountain House in Alberta to Montreal in Quebec - a distance of about 2300 miles as the crow flies. Apparently it took the winner (the team from Manitoba) 100 days to complete. Bruce says he understands that an Indian tribe in Alberta got some of Chestnut's forms when it went out of business in 1974, so maybe the form for these canoes still exist...
Apparently the boathouse used all wood/canvas canoes (presumably 16 footers) up until the '80s when they were replaced by newer fiberglass Old Towns.
So... if any of you folks find yourself near Lake Louise please do stop by and say 'Hi' to my new best buddy Bruce Bembridge. You can email him at bruce.bembridge@fairmont.com
Shortly after arriving at Lake Louise I looked over to my left, and in the distance I could see a boat house and some canoes.
Using the zoom on my camera I spotted what I thought were the distinctive 'peaks' of the fore & aft ends of a wooden canoe. After mumbling some excuses to my wife I abandoned her and hurried over to see more. When I arrived I found the dock area closed off to visitors, but after explaining that I was a wooden canoe nut (my WCHA hat helped attest to this) I was ushered over to the canoe by my new buddy Bruce Bembridge who's the naturalist for the site. What I had seen in the distance was a gorgeous huge War or Freighter canoe.
Bruce tells me it's a Chestnut, measuring about 25' long x 51" wide. Then to my further surprise Bruce leads me into the storage shed alongside the dock where they have a second identical canoe! The canoes have their original canvas and in great shape. As you can imagine, the ribs are massive - as are the gunnels! Bruce tells me that the only changes made to the canoe are that the original cane seats were replaced with wooden slabs - but they still have the original seats up in the shed's rafters!
Bruce tells me that they were made in 1967 for Canada's Centennial year. Apparently 10 were made and were used in a marathon race from Rocky Mountain House in Alberta to Montreal in Quebec - a distance of about 2300 miles as the crow flies. Apparently it took the winner (the team from Manitoba) 100 days to complete. Bruce says he understands that an Indian tribe in Alberta got some of Chestnut's forms when it went out of business in 1974, so maybe the form for these canoes still exist...
Apparently the boathouse used all wood/canvas canoes (presumably 16 footers) up until the '80s when they were replaced by newer fiberglass Old Towns.
So... if any of you folks find yourself near Lake Louise please do stop by and say 'Hi' to my new best buddy Bruce Bembridge. You can email him at bruce.bembridge@fairmont.com
