Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 70944 is a 17 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Otca model with red Western cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, and a keel. It was built between April and May, 1922. The original exterior paint color was orange with a black stripe and Greek ends. This may have been similar to the image shown at
http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/design32.gif (with different colors) which was known as design number 32. It shipped on May 31st, 1922 to Chicago, Illinois. 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/catalogs/old-town/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/shop to donate or join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Please attach a picture if the original design is still showing. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Benson
