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 Sram J2' /nj/ea/f gtfrtivci/eJ JO' \ 



St. Francis 2-Fathom Canoe of About 1865, with upright stems. Built for 

 forest travel, this form ranged in size from 12 feet 6 inches overall and aGji-inch 

 beam, to 16 feet overall and 34-inch beam. 



This particular canoe represented a hybrid design 

 not developed for sale to sportsmen, and the sole 

 example, a full-size canoe formerly in The American 

 Museum of Natural History at New York and meas- 

 ured by Adney in 1 890, is now missing and probably 

 has been broken up. 



The St. Francis canoes were usually small, being 

 commonly between 12 and 16 feet overall; the 15-foot 

 length usually was preferred by sportsmen. The 

 width amidships was from 32 to 35 inches and the 

 depth 12 to 14 inches. The 14-foot canoe usually 

 had a beam of about 32 inches and was nearly 14 

 inches deep; if built for portaging the ends were 

 somewhat lower than if the canoe was to be used in 

 open waters. Canoes built for hunting might be as 

 short as 10 or 11 feet and of only 26 to 28 inches 

 beam; these were the true woods canoes of the St. 

 Francis. 



The gunwale structure of the St. Francis canoes 

 followed Malecite design; it was often of slightly 

 smaller cross section than that of a Malecite canoe 



of equal length, but both outwale and cap were of 

 somewhat larger cross section. The stem-pieces were 

 split and laminated in the same manner, but occasion- 

 ally the lamination was at the bottom, due to the 

 hard curve required where the stem faired into the 

 bottom. Many such canoes had no headboards, the 

 heavy outwales being carried to the sides of the 

 stem pieces and secured there to support the main 

 gunwales. If the headboard was used, it was quite 

 narrow and was bellied toward the ends of the canoe. 

 In some St. Francis canoes the bark cover in the 

 rockered bottom near the ends showed a marked V. 

 In the canoe examined by Adney at the American 

 Museum of Natural History, the ribs inside toward 

 the end showed no signs of being "broken," so it is 

 evident that the V was formed either by use of a 

 shaped keel-piece in the sheathing or by an additional 

 batten shaped to give this V-form under the center 

 strake. Since the V began where the rocker in the 

 canoe started, in an almost angular break in the 

 bottom, it is likely that a shaped batten had been 



89 



