Construction of Kayak-Form Canoe of the lower Yukon, showing rigid 

 bottom frame. {Smithsonian Institution photo.) 



The kayak-forin canoes of the lower Yukon and 

 neighboring streams all appear to have been small 

 canoes "tailored" to their owner's weight and height: 

 14 to 15 feet in overall length, 2 to 2^4 feet wide, 

 and 10 to 12 inches deep. The bottom frame was 

 from 12 to 14 inches wide amidships. 



The kayak-form canoes of the upper Yukon Valley 

 and those used in northern British Columbia and in 

 Yukon Territory had ends with a long rake that came 

 up in a straight line from an angular break at the 

 bottom line to the height of the sheer amidships or 

 thereabouts; there a gradual upward curve continued 

 to the stem-head. The stern was 2 inches or so higher 

 than the bow, and the rake of the latter was usually 

 about an equal distance longer than that of the stern. 

 The sheer was nearly straight, with only about 2 inches 

 of sag from the heel of the stem to that of the stern. 

 Beyond the heels, the sheer lifted in a fair sweep, 

 becoming sharper toward the ends, where the broad- 

 ened inwales were secured on top of the stem and 

 stern pieces. There was no rocker in the bottom, 

 and some examples showed as much as % inch of hog 

 amidships. The bottom was flat athwartships and 



the almost straight sides flared a good deal. The turn 

 of the bilge was on a very small radius and in some 

 canoes appeared angular. The bow deck was usually 

 just under one-fifth the length of the canoe. Most of 

 the canoes did not have a stern deck, at least on the 

 Yukon headwaters, but on those that did, it was about 

 one-ninth the length of the canoe. The greatest beam 

 was abaft amidships and the canoe was usually about 

 XYi inches deeper at the heel of the sternpost than at 

 the heel of the stem. In plan, the ends (at gunwale 

 and bottom frame) were convex; the gunwale ends 

 alone might appear slightly hollow close to the posts 

 in some examples. The canoes in Alaska and British 

 Columbia and at the headwaters of the Yukon had a 

 rigid bottom structure, with the splint spreaders 

 usually numbering frve. 



The 1-man hunting canoes were commonly 18 to 19 

 feet long, 24 to 27 inches beam, and usually 10 to 11 

 inches deep amidships. The single example of a fam- 

 ily or cargo kayak-form that has been measured from 

 this area was 20 feet 1 inch overall and SO)^ inches 

 beam over the gunwales. It was 1 8 inches wide on the 

 bottom frame, 13 inches deep amidships, 14 inches 



165 



