Old Town Canoe - Serial Number 19958 16 - Any Help Appreciated

[rivertowngallery]

Hello, I recently acquired a 16ft antique Old Town Canoe with a serial number of: 19958 16. I would love to learn more about it's history. It is in excellent condition and features red exterior paint, with the words "West Point" painted onto the side of it. Based off of my basic research, the serial number puts it circa 1912, but that is all I have learned thus far. Thank you for any help you can provide

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 19958 is a 16 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, HW (heavy water) model with red western cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, spruce finish (outside) rails, a keel, and two spruce paddles. It was built between December, 1911 and July, 1912. The original exterior paint color was bright red. It shipped on July 24th, 1912 to Dixfield, Maine. A scan showing this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image 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 join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/about-the-wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to renew.

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

Benson

 

[rivertowngallery]

Benson,

Thank you very much for your time and detailed information. It is great to have a bit of history on this canoe that I can pass along to the next owner

Kind regards

Colin