Would someone please look up Old Town #56425 - 16.
This canoe was bought by my grandfather in the early 20's, I think, and is still in the family. We would be grateful for any information we can learn about it.
The Old Town canoe with serial number 56425 is a 16 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, HW (Heavy Water) model with red Western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, birch decks, and birch trim. It was built between November, 1919 and March, 1920. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on March 16th, 1920 to Chicago, Ill. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.
This scan and several hundred thousand more were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. Additional information about the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/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.