Welcome, the Old Town canoe with serial number 12508 is a 16 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Charles River model with red western cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, half ribs, a keel, and outside stems. It was built between October, 1909 and January, 1910. The original exterior paint color was white. It shipped on February 11th, 1910 to St. Louis, Mo. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the thumbnail image attached 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 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 join.
It is possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. A digit may be hidden so check both ends. The information at
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?791 may be useful. Posting pictures of the numbers and surrounding areas here can also help. There are several 16 foot long canoes in the 12508x range. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Benson