Old Town # 113072

mug21

Curious about Wooden Canoes
OT 113072. My Grandfathers beautiful canoe I just picked up!!!! Any info would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
 
Hello Mug,

Old Town 113072 is a 16 foot CS (common sense or middle) grade Otca model canoe that was completed November 1933-April 1934. It has red Western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, and what appears to be spruce decks, thwarts, and seat frames. This would be unusual, as trim is usually hardwood, such as ash or birch or maple... the worker wrote down that the deck is 20" (which is the length of the typical Otca deck at that time) and then made ditto marks under that for thwart and seat species... but the species of wood was never designated... just an "inches mark" on the deck and dittos under that. My guess is that your canoe has a hardwood deck and not spruce, but you may want to verify that. Anyway... the canoe has a keel and was originally dark green. It was originally shipped to G. Fox and Co. of Hartford, Connecticut, on August 16, 1934 but was returned October 18, 1934 for some work. It may have been damaged in transit or at the dealership-- anyway, another canoe was shipped and this one was repaired and shipped to Fox in Hartford on April 9, 1935. It was possibly then, that your grandfather bought it-- if this is the right canoe.

A copy of this scan is attached-- click on it to get a larger image.This scan and several hundred thousand others were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/ot_records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.php to join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.


More information on the Old Town Company can be found in Sue Audette's book, Old Town, Our First Hundred Years, which is available through the WCHA store and most booksellers, eBay, Amazon, and public libraries.
 

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