Who is this guy?

MGC

Scrapmaker
Rollin Thrulow. He sounds like he knows his stuff. It sounds like he knows a lot about Rollin Thurlow and Jerry Stelmok.

OK, that out of the way, this morning my son and I had a lengthy phone conversation including about the article written by Thrulow. For us, it was an article that connects a lot of dots, family dots.
I was 12 the first time I went to Lubec. My father and I had paddled the Allagash (from Greenville). We were on our way home to New Hampshire and took a somewhat roundabout way home. There wasn't much there in those days. The sardine factory occupied the better part of the town, and except for a hardware store, there wasn't a heck of lot there to see. But there was a town dock, and if you picked up a few jigs at the hardware store and timed the tide, you could catch literal buckets of mackerel when the tide was pushing. The locals smoke them so there's never a problem giving away what you don't plan to eat.
A few years later my buddies and I were on our way home from the Allagash. On our way to Old Town, we found our way to Lubec and explored the town. The guys at the hardware store told us about a boat building school that had opened up over near the bridge. There wasn't anyone there, but there was a sign and some kind of sailboat sitting outside.
The next time I went back, the school was gone, but this time we heard about some guys who were building canoes. We never made our way to that shop so Rollins stories and images helped to fill in some gaps. Better yet, the connection to Tuttle and Island Falls is explained. For us, that story has a bit of extra special meaning because in a French Canadian canoe story kind of way that is hard to explain, my father had a 20 foot White built on Jerry's form by a long-ago WCHA member, Guy Cyr. That canoe, much like the ones that Jerry is posing with, is the one that my sons took their first canoe trips in.
The sardine factory is not there anymore. A big piece of it actually floated away under the bridge and ended up on the shore on the island, but the mackerel still hit jigs you can buy at the hardware store.
My son had a real crappy day at work yesterday. Frankly, I was a bit worried about him and his moral. When he called this morning, he was cheerful and full of chatter. He wanted to talk about how much he enjoyed reading Wooden Canoe when he got home last night. He was laughing about Rollins and Jerrys different writing styles and recalling how much that White canoe, our summers in Lubec, runs down the Allagash and the time we spent in Rollins shop help him to keep perspective. That issue of Wooden Canoe put his crappy workday in the rear-view mirror. He also commented on Bensons article and expressed appreciation for a really good issue.
 
Last edited:
I was a bit thrown by the way your post started. I'm thinking, what am I missing here? Was there a post about this Thrulow guy I missed? Then it dawned on me that there must be something in the as-yet undelivered to me Wooden Canoe. If this is the case I will look forward even more to it's arrival!
 
I apologize for that. It never occurred to me that some folks might still be waiting for delivery. I think mine got here on Saturday and I figured that if my son's copy was delivered in no where Idaho, everyone should have received theirs by now. I guess not.
I don't think I gave toooo much away.
Mike
 
I went out to the mailbox this evening... and lo and behold, there it was! It should prove to be a memorable issue for me:

Cover: Old Town canoe written on tent; coincidentally I'm picking up a 1911 Old Town Charles River this weekend.
Alex Comb lightweight construction article: I'm thinking seriously about building his Solitude model with the Alaskan Yellow Cedar I picked up.
Thurlow and Stelmok article: I restored and paddle a Stelmok 15' Willow, and am building (very slowly) a Thurlow Atkinson Traveler.
Lastly, my brother asked me if anyone built rowing rigs for canoes: There is a short article about a Willits Bros. rowing rig.

And, of course, all the other interesting bits & bobs that always make the journal a pleasant read. Kudos to the editors for this one!
 
  • Like
Reactions: MGC
You guys are killing me here. My copy has NOT arrived. And it MAY NOT arrive for months, not just cause I live in Canada, but because we have yet another possible POSTAL STRIKE looming, which may start TODAY.
HEAVY SIGH,...
 
Rob, it will be well worth the wait. My note focused on the two articles that my son and I discussed, but Patrick is spot on pointing out the other highlights. This really was a good issue. And that new guy, Thrulow. I think he knows his stuff.
 
Back
Top