birch bark canoe building

7/28/2019 Birch Bark Canoe Building

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birch barkcanoe builDinG

Birch Bark Canoe Building at WabunWritten By Eliza Wicks-Arshack

Teres something special about the northwoods o Northern Ontario, something that

draws me to the distant shores o Lake emagamisummer ater summer, something that entices meto take arduous canoe journeys with people whorecognize that same something. Maybe its theblinding quality o the stars at night, or the senseo awe in seeing ancient pictographs. Perhapsits the sound o the wind or the pureness o thewater. Whatever it is, it was that something,the indenable, intangible, wonderul eeling Iget there, coupled with a desire to learn about

the history o the people whose land Id trav-eled extensively that drew me back to experienceemagami in the all months and participate inthe building o two birch bark canoes.

For thousands o years beore the infu-ence o Europeans, Native Americans and Ca-nadians lived and prospered in North America.Northern Ontario is distinguished by its borealorests and extensive waterways. Canoes have

been an invaluable tool or natives, serving ashunting vessels, mode o transportation, and orcommunication. Te fora o Northern Ontarioconveniently provided the natives with the best,most durable bark or canoe making: birch bark,and they have long since developed and perectedthe art o birch bark canoe making. When Eu-ropeans came to Northern Ontario they quicklyappropriated the canoe as their own mode otransportation, making a larger version o the tra-

ditional birch bark canoe or ur trade: the voyag-er canoe. Te lives o the natives quickly changedwith the arrival o European infuence in terms oreligion, lie style, etc. Similarly, modernity hascaused birch bark canoe making to become a lost

art. Te role o the canoe has become increas-ingly less important with inventions such as themotorboat, importation o ood and supplies,telephones, and mail services. Furthermore, thecanoe has evolved into principally a recreationalapparatus. In its new iteration, the canoe hascome to be an enterprise, and is now produced ina plethora o materials (wood and canvas, ABS,Kevlar, berglass, etc) and in innumerable styles.Te canoe has changed and developed, largely in

the past century, but its history and home lies inthe northern waters o Ontario.

After driving 1,862 miles from Colorado,I arrived in emagami in mid-October, greetedby snow-covered boughs and chilly winds. AdamWicks-Arshack, Xander Demetrios, and PeterBruno arrived a month beore me, joining JohnZinser whod been in emagami since June whenhe joined Pete Gwyn in leading Wabuns Bay

rip. By the time I arrived, the our o them hadgathered, harvested, and prepared most o thematerials needed to build two birch bark canoes,one 24-oot voyager canoe and a second 13-ootcanoe. Tis involved harvesting birch bark,gathering and preparing spruce root, harvestingand sculpting all the lumber needed, amountingto thousands o hours o work and raters ull ohandcrated materials - still no semblance o a ca-noe, but the building process was soon to begin.

Along with helping to build the canoes,I was interested in learning about the eme-Augama Anishnabai, the people o the emagamiFirst Nation at the Bear Island Reserve. I wascurious about how the community has changed

over the years, the eect o modernity on thecommunity, and specically the role and historyo the birch bark canoe in the community. Ourrst visit to Bear Island granted us the opportu-nity to view an 800-pound cow moose that wasrecently shot by a native and was hanging in agarage to be butchered in two days time. Tesight was quite powerul, a majestic beast in all itsmight, hanging lielessly, sacriced to eed severalamilies or the winter. We were lucky enough to


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be graciously given some o the moose meat. Wedined upon the delicious, favorul meat through-out our stay, concocting delicacies such as moosestew, moose-asparagus quiche, moose ribs withmashed potatoes, and numerous other dinner de-

lights. Pete also took on cleaning the hide, scrap-ing o the at, and stretching it on a rame whereit dried.

Te canoe building continued. Buildinga birch bark canoe is done rom the outside in. Itbegins by careully unrolling the bark on a build-ing platorm which we had set up in the Wabunshop (with both the 24 and 13 canoes, it wasquite crowded). Te bark is weighed down witha building rame and rocks to prevent curling.

Stakes are then positioned around the rame tosupport the sides. Side panels are inserted andsewn onto the bottom panel with the prepared

spruce root. Once sewn together, a several-dayendeavor, the stakes are widened to allow thebark to spread and create the desired beam orwidth o the canoe. Gunwales are prepared, aninwale and outwale, both split rom cedar logs,carved and whittled down with a crooked knie,

all by hand, then steam bent to create a curve ateach end o the canoe. Twarts are also carvedand then connected to the inwale via a mortisand tenon. Te gunwales and thwarts are placed

on the bark and secured with wooden pegs andspruce root lashings. Te panels and gores are alsosewn together with spruce root, uniying all o thebark. Te stempieces and manboards are ormed

and inserted to create the shape and strength othe bow and stern. Our canoe was beginning totake shape, day by day resembling more a nishedcanoe.

Days were long. Te ve us o devel-oped a routine: up at 7:22 (generally awakenedby Adam), water on or coee (a priority in themornings), breakast o oats, then work beganand continued till supper. It was a joy, a dierentpace o lie than that experienced at home. We


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were there to build two birch bark canoes; thatwas our ocus, what we lived or. Te weathertreated us well with an abnormally warm all,allowing or tee shirts during the day and toastyfres at night. My interactions with Bear Island

continued. I conducted several interviews with aew elders rom the community and visitors romBear Island came to Garden Island to view thecanoes. Tey all were impressed and pleased thatwe were attempting to enliven an art which wasonce integral to their peoples way o lie.

Te fnal stages o the canoes were under-way. Te next stage was preparing and bendingthe ribs or the canoes (amounting to 60 ribs orthe large canoe and 34 or the smaller one). Teribs are laid out on the gunwales and markedour-fngers in rom the gunwales on either side

(this is where the bend will be). Te ribs weresteamed to allow or pliability, bent in the ap-propriate place, and inserted into the canoe todry. O over 90 bent in the process, only fve ribsbroke. Ater drying or a day the ribs are removed

and the ends cut to the appropriate height andcarved to an angle in order to ft in under the bev-eled inwale. It took us several cuts to get the rightft. Te third cut was the charm and the ribs

were installed with the sheathing meticulouslypositioned below. By this point in the building,

work continued late into the night, fnishing adays work once at 4 am with the fnal rib in place(while not completely tapped in, the bark needstime to stretch beore the ribs are completely in).With the wood in place and the sewing com-

pleted, the sealing began. While typically seamsare sealed using a mixture o spruce resin (sap)and bear at, due to lack o resin, we used roofngtar (a substitute commonly used in contemporarybirch bark canoes). Te tar was applied to all theseams in an attempt to completely waterprooit. Ater allowing the tar to dry and the bark tostretch, ribs were tapped in. On the fnal day

o work, while tapping in a rib we heard a tear.Te bark below began to rip on a weak part obark. Te tear continued and made about an8-inch hole on the bottom of our voyager canoe.It was heart breaking. Tis was the frst majorproblem we were aced with, and we simply weredevastated. Would the tear continue? Can wefx it? Do we have the bark to fx it? We hadlimited materials and up to now they seemed the


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perect amount. Ater a nights deliberation andpostponing our maiden voyage to Bear Island,we removed the ribs and sheathing over the tear,sewed a patch, and crossed our ngers it would xthe problem. Te wood went back in and the ribs

careully inserted over the patch. It seemed towork. Just a day behind schedule, we were readyto paddle to Bear Island.

Te project, powered and directed byAdam and John, was quite an accomplishment.Te two o them built their rst bark canoe inthe bush last summer, 12 eet long. Tis timethey ambitiously aimed toward a 24-oot voy-ager canoe as their second birch bark canoe andsimultaneously a 13-oot canoe or the third. Te

entire process was one o learning and ended suc-cessully. We had just enough material, runningout o nearly everything just in time, and ndingsolutions or all the problems we encountered.

After over 3,500 hours, collectively, ofwork, preparing thousands o eet o spruce root,and consuming about 15lbs of coee, we set o

on our maiden voyage rom Garden Island toBear Island. While not completely waterproo(a ulltime bailer en route was necessary), she

foated. Te paddle to Bear Island was simply

amazing. o paddle a canoe youve poured yourlie into, built rom what the natives call the med-icine o the land we were traveling on, towardsthe reserve o the eme-Augama Anishnabai

whose culture wed learned rom and appropriatedpractices rom, gave us the eeling o utter accom-plishment, an unreal eeling.

People rom the community greeted us

at the dock and were speechless. One womansaid, Its unny, its gone ull circle. It used tobe the natives showing the white people birchbark canoes, now the whites are showing the

natives. We por-taged the canoe tothe Elders Buildingto display it. Teyinvited us inside orsome moose stew,chili, and bannock.

Mary Katt, one o the elders in the community,said a prayer, some beautiul words, or our canoeand us. Another woman, Virginia McKenzie,

smudged the canoe or us to cleanse it and sang

a song calling the eaglesto guide its way. Teygited us a eme-AugamaAnishnabai fag or thecanoe and medicine bag

pins containing the ouressential medicines: to-bacco, sweet grass, birchbark, and cedar. It was agorgeous closure or anamazing project.

We let Wabun and Garden Island thenext day in a hectic rush to pack everything upand drove all the way down to New York; head-ing back south ater spending time in the north

woods is always a hard transition. I learned end-less amounts during the month I was up there,about building canoes, the history o the area,the current situation at Bear Island, and aboutmysel. Getting to know Pete and Xander waswonderul, and spending time with Adam andJohn, two people Ive known and loved orever,was very special. I thank you all or an amazingtime. Te canoes are now traveling cross-country,

took a stop in New York City, continued on toKentucky, passing through Colorado, and willeventually nd a home in Washington State. Teboys will use the canoe to lead educational tripsor school groups. Weve taken rom emagamisdaki menan (our land), but have done so in a pos-itive and respectul way that we hope will benetmany. We hope to return the canoe to emagamito take a group o native children rom the schoolon Bear Island on a canoe trip in a canoe made

rom their land.

birch bark canoe building

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