Old Town 78994

[Susanne Ke]

Brand: Old Town
Serial Number: 78994
Length: 15'

Has hardware on stern that looks like it might have held a rudder. No front seat and a step in the floor that may have held a mast.

If you have any information I would love to receive it.

Thank you,
Susanne

 

[Benson Gray]

Welcome, the Old Town canoe with serial number 78994 is a 15 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, fifty pound model with red Western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, birch decks, birch thwarts, birch seats, and a keel. It was built in June, 1923. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on July 3rd, 1923 to Magnetawan, Ontario, Canada. A scan of this build record can be found below.

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 donate, join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See https://www.woodencanoe.org/about to learn more about the WCHA and https://www.woodencanoe.org/pricing-plans/join to donate or join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match the canoe. The sail rig is not mentioned on the build record and was probably added after it shipped, which is not unusual. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[Susanne Ke]

Thanks so much for this. Fun bit of history - Dr. Howard Kelly was my grandfather. I have more info on the canoe which I will include in another post.