Indian Girl

[ticonderoga]

Last fall, my son and I picked up another canoe to restore without knowing what exactly it was under the three coals of paint and the fiberglass. But it had unique lines that caught our attention. After getting it home and stripping some paint, it turned out to be a 16ft Indian Girl. It was marked on both stems with the serial #3884 and had the " incorporated". On the deck was a painter ring that turned out to say Rushton on it as well. I now have taken it into the shop to begin restoration and have a few questions. Can it be dated by the serial number and the fact that it has the incorporated logo? As can be expected, this canoe had been worked on by others in its past. How can I tell if it was a open gunwale as I found it or as a closed gunwale as described in the 1903 and 1910 catalogs? It does not have pocketed inwales and the rib tops are cut at an angle downward from the inwales out. Does this mean it was a closed gunwale with the outer "strip" lower than the inner gunwale to match up with the rib top? Does anyone have pictures of this closed gunwale setup? I have never seen one and I want to get it right. Thanks for any info, Joe

 

[Dan Miller]

Based on what I've recorded vis-a-vis Rushton serial numbers, your canoe may date to 1908-1911. I is probably a Grade B, and would have had an outer gunwale and cap made of thin strips. When you strip the paint off, look for tell-tale nail holes on the upper face of the inwale. Does it have thwarts?

 

[ticonderoga]

It does have the nail holes on the inner gunwales. It did not thwarts when I got it. Thanks Dan for the info.

 

[ticonderoga]

Does anyone have a picture of a closed gunwale IG that is not a "double gunwale"? The shape, profile at the ends, taper points and relationship of the top cap and outer strip are needed to get this looking correct. Thanks Joe

 

[Benson Gray]

Does anyone have a picture of a closed gunwale IG that is not a "double gunwale"?

The archive at https://wcha.org/classified-archive/Rushton.html appears to have one in the middle. The links below have more details. Good luck,

Benson

Thread 'Rushton Indian Girl #5123 project canoe'

Jun 14, 2022

Took home another project canoe today: a 16' Rushton Indian Girl (another gift from my buddy and WCHA guru Mike/MGC). They were made from 1902 to 1917. My understanding is that Rushton is thought to have only made about 5500 canoes, so with a serial # of 5123 it's a good guess that it was made in about 1915. It's of special interest as it has what's called 'long decks' which were a special order.


Mike tells me that Rushton's long-decks were placed atop Rushton's typical double-lobe decks. The upper portion of one of these the long-decks...

• Howie
• indian girl rushton
• Replies: 26
• Forum: Wood and Canvas

• 

Thread '16' Rushton Indian Girl Long Deck Completed'

Apr 27, 2023

Rushton Indian Girl, 16', #5213, circa 1915. Its bones were gifted to me a year ago by my buddy and WCHA guru Mike/MGC. Hope I did you proud!

As you can see this IG has long decks, half ribs, and external stems. It's mostly original except for: new seats, 1 new thwart, several replaced ribs (and all the rib tips), and long decks and coping (which are near exact copies of the originals). The external stems are interesting as they are oval shaped in profile but with the inner & outer ends flattened to 3/8" to fit against the canoe's stem on the inner side and stem band on the outer...

• Howie
• girl indian long deck rushton
• Replies: 5
• Forum: Wood and Canvas

• 

 

[Dan Miller]

The top right illustration shows the B grade construction method. Some details of canoes I've photographed follow.

This link from Benson's archives also shows the B grade gunwale treatment: https://wcha.org/classified-archive/Rushton-17-1909-7-10-21.pdf

 

[MGC]

The canoe Howie listed was an open gunwale long deck. It had the original outside rails with it when I obtained it. It was not a B grade.
The B grades really are a B grade when it comes to these "Incs.". The thwarts are simple straight wooden slats, not the shaped thwart seen on Howie's canoe.
I see that Dan has posted some images of a typical B while I was typing. All of the ones I have seen look like the one that Dan just posted.

 

[ticonderoga]

Thanks all for the information it will get me on my way to completing the restoration. Does anyone know what the highest non "Inc" serial number is that we know of?

 

[Dan Miller]

Does anyone know what the highest non "Inc" serial number is that we know of?

Yes. As of now, it is SN 2289.

 

[ticonderoga]

Thank

 

[JClearwater]

My Indian Girl which was the subject of the restoration video which is available on YouTube is marked on the stem, JH Rushton, Canton NY with serial number 3018. It does not have "Inc" included. It also never had a metal tag on the deck - no tack holes to suggest it ever had one.
Jim C.

 

[Dan Miller]

The lowest number that is definitely an Inc. is 2334. That and another between it and Jim C.'s had the same stem stamp, but also had the shield. Another higher also had the same brand, but I didn't note a shield. So, I don't believe that the stem stamp alone can be used to determine a pre- or post-incorporation canoe. Documenting more canoes may help shed more light.

 

[MGC]

Rushton "Inc"ian B grade. You can make out the thwarts in this image.

 

[Mark Giovannetti]

We finished a restoration of a grade B this past fall. Ours had three thwarts. The outwale cap is 3/16" thick by 7/8" wide. It tapers to 5/8" at the tip. The taper starts about 24" before the tip. Gunwale cap is 1/4" thick by 1 1/8" wide ( this was cut 1 1/4" and fitted to the gunwale). This tapers to 1/2" at the tip ( IT's 7/8" at the start of the stem band). The taper starts about 8" from the end.

The bow and stern thwarts are 8 ribs away from the center thwart. The thwarts are 1 7/8" wide, flat on top. The edges or sides of the thwarts are 1/2" but the bottom or underneath shape of the thwart is three sided and is 1 7/8" thick in the middle. The center thwart is 31 1/2" long ( pretty sure). All are made of ash.

A couple things we learned. This gunwale design is no easier than the pocketed gunwale of the grade A ( they both look nice). The caps are difficult to plane to thickness. We ended up getting a thickness sander to do the job. Maybe with a higher quality planer it would be ok. Ours are one piece, straight grain is important. There's a lot of bending and it's thin stuff.

 

[Mark Giovannetti]

Here's some more pics if they help.

 

[Worth Gretter]

Fantastic, Mark!

 

[samb]

My Rushton Navahoe is essentially a B grade Indian girl with less pronounced upsweep at the shear and lower quality materials.

The thwarts are oak, the rails spruce and the rail covers are ash.
As Mark says, bending the rail covers is not an easy task. As I could not get full length ash for the rail covers I had to scarf two pieces on each side in any case. After unsuccessfully trying to bend the thin pieces of the side covers against their natural inclination, I came up with the idea of bending the upweep for all four pieces at the same time by bending a wider piece along the centre line of the boat, then splitting this into the four pieces I needed, which were then scarfed together. This worked a treat.

The bend on the top cover was not as extreme so I did each quarter individually.

The ‘plain’ thwarts are actually shaped underneath:

Sam

 

[JClearwater]

Mark,
What is the serial number and how does the stem name stamp read?
JCC

 

[Mark Giovannetti]

Yes, Sam's drawing is the three sided design of the bottom of the thwarts I was referring to. Jim, I believe the serial number is 2801, going from memory I'll check to be sure. Again from memory both stems are stamped JH Rushton Canton NY. I'll double check but if you don't hear from me tomorrow I remembered correctly.

 

[ticonderoga]

Mine is #3884 and it has the “inc” and holes for the shield on the deck. Maybe this helps with dating.