Message-Id: <199612062012.MAA14220@ns1.intelenet.net>
From: Wolfgang Brinck <wolfgang.brinck@hksystems.com>
Subject: Re: Oneida boats?
To: baidarka@lists.intelenet.net
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 96 14:09:05 CST
In-Reply-To: <32A82AC4.4753@execpc.com>; from "Tim Webster" at Dec 06, 96 8:16 am
>
> I don't know why it didn't occur to me to post this question earlier,
> since I'm probably related (albiet distantly) to the folks whose boats
> we all like to build -- but does anyone know what sort of watercraft the
> Oneidas may have built? Alas, I'm the last legal tribal member in my
> line (I married a Norwegian, so my son doesn't qualify), but perhaps I
> can preserve my heritage in other ways, if I just knew what that
> heritage was (the same heritage we were so eager to drop a couple
> generations ago, ironically, not knowing it would be so politically
> correct to be native now). My tribe is originally from the New York
> area, and akin to the Iroquois (I think).
>
> I've seen a photograph of an Iroquois Hickory bark boat -- the ugliest
> of the lot -- in McPhee's book _The Survival of the Bark Canoe_ (which I
> gather is from Adney). You can probably tell that I have not devoted
> much research to this question, but perhaps someone can get me started.
>
>
> --
> Tim Webster
> IVCF Kenosha, Wisconsin, 414-552-8938
> webby@execpc.com, http://www.execpc.com/~webby/webster.htm
>
>
Tim,
I believe that in spite of all the press that bark boats have gotten,
the most common type of work boat in use before the arrival
of Columbus was the dugout. I did not become aware of this fact until
quite recently. A few years back I hit a bunch of museums in small
towns in northern Wisconsin and to my surprise, every one had two or
three dugouts in it that someone had pulled off the bottom of some lake.
Birch trees do not become common until you get pretty far north. This is
why you see hickory and elm bark canoes in Adney and Chapelle.
Birch bark is much superior, but not readily available in the south.
The major advantage of log boats is that you can make them from local logs
whereas birch bark was only available as a trade item in a lot of places.
The main disadvantage of log boats was weight. Hence for portaging and
war parties, bark boats were much more desirable. However, I think in
normal peace time use, log boats were a lot more common. Bark canoes
were also faster than dugouts, hence more desirable for war parties
when a quick escape was in order.
There are no books on log boats, however, Tim Kent of Chicago has been
studying them and is putting together a book. His phone number is
708 524-9643. He is with the Chicago Symphony and he travels a lot,
and whenever he goes to a different town, he pops into the local
museums and documents what's there.
--
wolfgang. /|
brinck@h / oo wolf
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