observation existed but also because a canoe factory 

 was actually operated by the French. The memoirs 

 of Colonel Franquet, Military Enginecr-in-Chief for 

 New France, contain extensive references to this 

 factory as it existed in 1751. 



The canoe factory was located at Trois Rivieres, 

 just below Montreal, on the St. Lawrence. A 

 standard large canoe was built, and the rate of 

 production was then 20 a year. Franquet gives 

 as the dimensions of the canoes the following (con- 

 verted to English measurement): length 36 feet, 

 beam about 5% feet, and depth about 33 inches. 

 Much of his description is not clear, but it seems 

 evident that the canoe described was very much 

 like the later grand canot, or large canoe, of the fur 

 trade. The date at which this factory was estab- 

 lished is unknown; it may have existed as early as 

 1700, as might have been required by the rapid 

 expansion of the French trade and other activities 

 in the last half of the previous century. It is apparent 

 from early comments that the French found the 

 Indian canoe-builders unreliable, not to say most 

 uncertain, as a source of supply. The need for 

 large canoes for military and trade operations had 

 forced the establishment of such a factory as soon 

 as Europeans could learn how to build the canoes. 

 This would, in fact, have been the only possible 

 solution. 



Of course, it must not be assumed that the bark 

 canoes were the only watercraft used by the early 

 French traders. They used plank boats as well, 

 ranging from scows to flat-bottomed bateaux and 

 ship's boats, and they also had some early sailing craft 

 built on the Great Lakes and on the lower St. 

 Lawrence. The bateau, shaped much like a modern 

 dory but with a sharp stern, was adopted by the 

 English settlers as well as the French. In early 

 colonial times this form of boat was called by the 

 English a "battoe," or "Schenectady Boat," and later, 

 an "Albany Boat." It was sharp at both ends, it 

 usually had straight flaring sides with a flat bottom, 

 and was commonly built of white pine plank. 

 Some, however, had rounded sides and lapstrake 

 planking, as shown by a plan of a bateau of 1776 

 in the Admiralty Collection of Draughts. Early 

 bateaux had about the same range of size as the bark 

 canoes but later ones were larger. 



After the English gained control of Canada, the 

 records of the Hudson's Bay Company, and of 

 individual traders and travellers such as Alexander 

 Henry, Jr., and Alexander MacKenzie, at the end 

 of the eighteenth century, give much material on the 

 fur-trade canoes but little on the small Indian canoes. 

 In general, these records show that the fur-trade 

 canoe of the West was commonly 24 feet long inside 

 the gunwales, exclusive of the curves of bow and stern; 

 4 feet 9 inches beam; 26 inches deep; and light enough 

 to be carried by two men, as MacKenzie recorded, 

 "three or four miles without resting on a good road." 

 But the development of the fur-trade canoes is best 

 left for a later chapter. 



The use of the name "canoe" for bark watercraft 

 does not appear to been taken from a North American 

 Indian usage. The early French explorers and 

 travellers called these craft canau (pi. canaux). As 

 this also meant "canal," the name canol (pi. canots) 

 was soon substituted. But some early writers preferred 

 to call the canoe ecorse de bouleau, or birchbark, 

 and sometimes the name used was merely the generic 

 petit embarcalion, or small boat. The early English 

 term was "canoa," later "canoe." The popular uses 

 of canoe, canoa, canau, and canot are thought to have 

 begun early in the sixteenth century as the adaptation 

 of a Carib Indian word for a dugout canoe. 



Summary 



It will be seen that the early descriptions of the 

 North American bark canoes are generally lacking 

 in exact detail. Yet this scanty information strongly 

 supports the claim that bark canoes were highly 

 developed and that the only influence white men 

 exercised upon their design was related to an increase 

 in size of the large canoes that may have taken place 

 in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. 

 The very early recognition of the speed, fine construc- 

 tion, and general adaptability of the bark canoes to 

 wilderness travel sustain this view. The two known 

 instances mentioned of early accurate illustration 

 emphasize that distinct variations in tribal forms of 

 canoes existed, and that these were little changed 

 between early colonial times and a relatively recent 

 period, despite steadily increasing influence of the 

 European. 



13 



