FOREST AND STREAM 
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What Avenues Has it Not Opened, What Vistas of Beauty Has it Not Made Ours? 
THE CANOE OF BIRCH 
ROMANCE,- HISTORY AND PRACTICAL 
EVERYDAY USE CENTER ABOUT IT 
By Pious Jeems, Jr. 
he went out could invariably discover a 
severe storm approaching and suggest an 
early return. Also, the best fishing 
grounds were near the camp. Trolling 
was no good, and he always suggested 
still fishing or drifting. Why? Simply to 
save gasoline. Can you beat it? He 
used to concentrate his eagle, fish eyes 
on the sun, as if it was a “Big Ben” and 
needed a barrel of lubricant to make it 
travel faster. If he failed to reach the 
dock at a certain time, a fit overcame him, 
and there was no getting away from it 
mornings before eight o’clock. What kind 
of a boatman would you call that? This 
class of men should be eliminated at any 
camp for anglers are quick to ascertain 
when being imposed upon. 
HE meanest trick I ever heard of came 
to my notice not long ago. A New 
Yorker rented a launch at a cer¬ 
tain well known camp one day, and 
that afternoon discovered another launch 
belonging to the fleet in distress. It 
was an old tub of a boat and the 
worn out engine -had become dis¬ 
abled. The boat and its occupants were 
drifting and rolling some miles offshore. 
The New Yorker gave up his fishing and 
hastened to the rescue. He towed the boat 
to the dock. On arrival, what occurred? 
The dockmaster thrust a ticket under his 
nose for $15 to sign, the rent charges, and 
he never received a word of thanks for 
his pains. That serious consequences 
might have resulted, possibly loss of life, 
but for his timely assistance was not con¬ 
sidered. The one thought was the rent 
money for the New Yorker’s boat. What 
was the result, he left that night and 
vowed he would never visit the place again 
or recommend it to any of his friends. This 
episode shows conclusively that it requires 
brains and tact to run a camp. 
Invariably when a fishing camp has been 
established the formation of a fishing club 
usually ensues. Its aim and object should 
be, aside from promoting good fellowship, 
encouraging use of light tackle. This is 
done by offering handsome prizes as an 
inducement and to encourage anglers to 
join it, and the camp should be the first 
to lend its support and not shoulder all 
the expense upon the club. If there is no 
club, then the camp, to be a success, should 
provide trophies. A camp I know of in 
one of the best locations is a failure be¬ 
cause of this; as well as inadequate ac¬ 
commodations, exorbitant prices, unsuitable 
launches and poor boatmen, rented tackle, 
etc. They have a so-called fishing club, 
but the only trophies are some buttons that 
the manager of the camp dispenses to¬ 
gether with your bill. 
The best kind of a man to run a camp 
or club is one who is an angler himself 
and imbued with the spirit of the game. 
He should possess a pleasing personality, 
and the ability to ingratiate himself with 
people as well as knowing how to use tact 
and diplomacy. 
T HE romance of the bark canoe will not 
down. It has been written about so 
much, and its association with real 
woods life is so close that interest in the 
Indian canoe will no doubt survive long af¬ 
ter the last one shall have gone to the Happy 
Grounds with the race that stood as its type 
and sponsor. Contrary to opinion it is 
about as easy to buy a birch bark canoe as 
a wooden or canvas one. Not in city sport¬ 
ing goods stores, of course, for the demand 
does not justify carrying a stock, and to 
tell the truth a bark canoe would not an¬ 
swer the purposes of an amateur canoeist, 
nor stand up under the strain that the fac¬ 
tory-built canoe is subjected to. 
If you want a bark canoe, get into com¬ 
munication with some general store at a 
“rail end” village in Canada—that is, a 
town lying at the terminus of steel, and 
beyond which there is immediate contact 
with the wilderness. Usually one will find 
a more or less sparse population of Indians 
trading in these towns, and the merchants 
buy canoes from them. White men can 
build canoes, but few do. The Indian takes 
to it naturally, and excels in the work. He 
ought to for his people have been at it for 
hundreds of years—long before America 
was discovered. The first explorers men¬ 
tion them, and the work of penetrating an 
unknown continent was expedited or made 
possible only because the Indian canoe was 
adapted to the task. 
From what we know of the canoe of two 
or three centuries ago it did not differ in 
the least from the one of to-day, except 
that the early tribes had not learned to use 
shingle nails instead of wooden pegs in 
their work—which goes to show the su¬ 
periority of barbarism over civilization. 
The price of a good bark canoe varies, 
but is moderate always. I have bought 
them in Maniwaki, Quebec, as cheaply as 
one dollar a foot, a twelve foot canoe cost¬ 
ing twelve dollars. But this price differs, 
according to supply and grade. The high 
cost of living affects Lo quite as much as 
the rest of us, and we can’t blame him for 
holding out for firmer quotations. But I 
have also bought canoes in the woods, far 
from the railroad, at lesser figures. 
In selecting a canoe, keep in mind what 
you want it for. A twelve foot canoe is 
good enough for two men who understand 
their business, and you can also carry a 
moderate lot of dunnage in it. But they 
are used mostly for fishing around camp, 
and are particularly desirable on light ex¬ 
ploring trips to small adjoining lakes. They 
are not to be recommended, however, 
where heavy water is to be encountered, 
nor should the young man take his best girl 
out in one, a la the average canoe picture, 
with mandolin accompaniment, the b. g. 
leaning luxuriously against a cushion, trail¬ 
ing her lily fingers through the water. That 
would spell upset in the case of a twelve 
foot bark. 
TWELVE foot canoe, well made, will 
weigh from thirty to forty pounds 
when new, but more as they get old, 
for .they soak up water and sand gets into 
them. Also, the repairing and patching 
