Veazie #419
- Thread starter Bill Thurlow
- Start date
Veazie is in Maine on the Penobscot river between Bangor and Old Town. More information is available at the first link below and the second link goes to one of their catalogs. There are no Veazie or Morris serial number records that are known to have survived so accurate dating is generally not available.
Benson
Veazie Canoe Company | Wooden Canoe Museum
Veazie Canoe Company Undated | Wooden Canoe Museum
MGC
Scrapmaker
Some information about Veazie is located on the Wooden Canoe Museum website.
woodencanoemuseum.org
There was hope that a few "benchmark" Veazie canoes would allow construction of a dating table for them, but the hot leads went cold.
Suffice it to say, an early Veazie number will be from post 1906. Absent any build data, we do not know the total number of these that were constructed and consequently, cannot date one except by comparing the build features to those of Morris canoes from the same period.
Veazie Canoe Company | Wooden Canoe Museum
Suffice it to say, an early Veazie number will be from post 1906. Absent any build data, we do not know the total number of these that were constructed and consequently, cannot date one except by comparing the build features to those of Morris canoes from the same period.
Bill Thurlow
Enthusiastic about Wooden Canoes
MGC
Scrapmaker
Looking back at the condition of that when you started, well done. It was pretty rough. I'm not sure why I have an image of the coved decks from 419 in my files?
Looking at the Veazie record, there are the expected keyhole decks, the one long deck that was restored by Howie (319) and then only three coved deck boats, this one, 643, 716 and 1101. 1101 was incorrectly restored by its current owner and given long decks making your canoe, 419 one of just a few Veazie's, never mind one of even fewer coved deck boats. It's nice to see it back in use.
If anyone reading this thread has information about a Veazie canoe and especially one with provenance, please pipe in. I remain hopeful that we can eventually nail down a guesstimate of Veazie production and dates.
Looking at the Veazie record, there are the expected keyhole decks, the one long deck that was restored by Howie (319) and then only three coved deck boats, this one, 643, 716 and 1101. 1101 was incorrectly restored by its current owner and given long decks making your canoe, 419 one of just a few Veazie's, never mind one of even fewer coved deck boats. It's nice to see it back in use.
If anyone reading this thread has information about a Veazie canoe and especially one with provenance, please pipe in. I remain hopeful that we can eventually nail down a guesstimate of Veazie production and dates.
Two more data points are available from the Annual Report of the Bureau of Taxation of the State of Maine in 1908 (at https://books.google.com/books?id=D9BMAQAAMAAJ on page 353) and 1911 (at https://books.google.com/books?id=vZQbAQAAIAAJ on page 369). The Veazie Canoe company paid $5 tax on their capital stock of $50,000 during both of these years. It is also interesting to note that the B. N. Morris Canoe company is not listed in either document. That business may have not been incorporated. The Kennebec Canoe company is listed with identical amounts in 1911. Old Town Canoe company was listed in both documents with $10,000 in capital stock and the same tax.
A new mystery is that the Spring Street Canoe House is listed in both with $10,000 in capital stock and the same tax. The link below and at https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:tt44pr594 show an organization with that name in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. It is not clear if this is the same company or why they would be organized in Maine.
Benson
A new mystery is that the Spring Street Canoe House is listed in both with $10,000 in capital stock and the same tax. The link below and at https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:tt44pr594 show an organization with that name in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. It is not clear if this is the same company or why they would be organized in Maine.
Benson
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