Is this a Peterborough Hiawatha?

[Howie]

Just brought in for restoration what I'm told is a Peterborough Hiawatha sail canoe. It's 17 ft long. Is it a Peterborough? It is a Hiawatha? I see no tag ID (although the front deck does have a lighted colored area that may have held a decal) nor serial # on the stems.

Note the full coverage floor where shorter lengths of rib material fill in the space between the ribs. And note the decks as well as the seat spacers made of blocks of wood. And this thing is heavy!

Can anyone provide some catalogue info?

 

[martin ferwerda]

Thompson Hiawatha, attached scan from a 1939 catalog I got off ebay, and am image of the form for the 18 foot version, and yes they are heavy.

 

[Dave Osborn]

Most definitely a Thompson Hiawatha! One of my favorites!
Heavy? Yes, but not when you are paddling.
Had the decal from the Cortland NY Thompson factory .

 

[Howie]

Thanks all... any idea on its age?

 

[Benson Gray]

The page at the link below indicates that this model was listed in the catalogs from 1921 to 1943. A Thompson Courtland decal is shown below.

Benson

Thompson Brothers | Wooden Canoe Museum

woodencanoemuseum.org

 

[MGC]

That (the decal provided by Benson) is the correct one for that canoe. The Peshtigo boats/canoes received a metal tag.
Thompson built good canoes and boats using good materials. That Hiawatha should look really good when you get down with it.

 

[Benson Gray]

The Peshtigo boats/canoes received a metal tag.

There were a few Thompsons from Cortland that got metal tags as shown below.

Benson

 

[Dan Miller]

Half ribs that completely fill the space between ribs is earlier - later on there was a gap between half ribs and full ribs.

There are a number of things about Thompson on my website: https://woodencanoemuseum.org/thompson-brothers - there are a few catalogs; I have more to upload, if there is a particular year of interest, let me know.

There were a couple articles in Wooden Canoe about Thompson, including an early one by the Deans, and a later one by Andreas Rhude.

 

[Dave Osborn]

It’s been a while since I cruised Thompson catalogs, but as I recall, the artwork for the Hiawatha model changed to show the narrower half ribs in 1938 or 39. Maybe that can be verified.
While it’s not necessarily when the rib width changed definitively, it is at least something to go on as far as differentiating approximate dating.

 

[Michael Grace]

I have a Thompson square-stern boat with the metal Cortland tag, the top one in Benson's message above.

 

[Howie]

Benson: The Thompson decal you show in one of your pics above seems identical to the faint image I see on my Hawatha's deck. I can't find a Thompson decal in WCHA's store, so I'm wondering if you can send me off a nice front-on view of your decal - or better yet, a jpg - so I can make one of my own. Ditto to anyone else who's reading this.

 

[martin ferwerda]

Thee is more than 1 version of the decal, this old thread might be of use

Thread 'Thompson Hiawatha Decal'

Dec 28, 2009

I just picked up a Thompson Hiawatha, this one has the half ribs installed so that there is no gap between the half ribs and the full ribs. It also lacks the metal bracket under the decks, it instead has a wood block nailed under the decks.
It also has the remains of a decal on the bow deck, I can see the last few letters, which look like "atha", which I assume is the last part of "Hiawatha" Any ideas about dating it by it having a decal? There is no sign of the brass or aluminum Thompson name plate.

• martin ferwerda
• Replies: 14
• Forum: Canoe Photo Index

 

[Benson Gray]

I'm wondering if you can send me off a nice front-on view of your decal - or better yet, a jpg - so I can make one of my own.

That image is one that I found on the internet and don't have any more information. You could work with a graphic designer to recreate it as Martin did in the thread he linked above. The angle is better in the image below but the decal is in much worse shape. Sorry,

Benson