Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 4270 is an 18 foot long, GS (Guide Special or utility) grade, IF (Indian Fishing) model with closed spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, and a keel. It was built between January and July, 1906. The original exterior paint color was slate. It shipped on July 13th, 1906 to Binghamton, New York. A scan of this build record can be found below.
This scan and several hundred thousand more 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 appreciate your recent donation 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 join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match the canoe. The information at
https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/791/ may help you determine if there are any hidden digits in your serial number since four digit numbers are unusual. Please post some pictures of the serial numbers from each end and surround areas. It would also be interesting to see some showing the bow deck, the interior features, and to confirm the extreme overall length in a straight line. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Benson