Sept. 3, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
385 
But a new light has appeared to the owners 
of these almost abandoned waterways. In spite 
of the rough usage, the motor boats have per¬ 
sisted in navigating the canals either for the 
experience of the trip or to reach some inland 
lake or river. Last year on one short canal 
nearly twice as many motor boats passed 
through the locks as all other varieties of craft 
combined, and even on the lengthy Erie, lock 
tolls from motor boats taking the whole trip 
to the Great Lakes or shorter journeys, were 
surprisingly large. In view of these facts, and 
the increasing popularity of the motor boat, 
the owners and superintendents of the canals 
are bestirring themselves, and to-day the motor 
boat, instead of being frowned upon, is wel¬ 
comed. Special provision is made in some 
canals for handling them carefully. The lock 
attendants are made to understand that the 
smallest motor boat must be given the same 
care as a big one, and the owner of a sixteen- 
footer gets through the locks with as few 
scratches as the thirty- or forty-foot racer.' 
The motor boat is thus rapidly redeeming our 
old canals and giving new life and picturesque¬ 
ness to them. In the opinion of one yachting 
expert, “the canals and the inland waterways 
reached by them will soon be used by motor 
boats as much as the River Thames of England, 
and the famous canals and rivers of Europe, 
for the pleasure and health of the people.” 
Threading the canals in a motor boat is an 
experience fraught only with pleasure and an¬ 
ticipation. Most of our canals wind through 
picturesque and historical regions, and one can 
explore out-of-the-way parts of the country 
that no other conveyance reaches. Most of 
these canals connect with salt water and lead 
inland to our great rivers and chains of lakes. 
In some instances one may pass through the 
canals from one lake to another, and then drop 
down rivers and encircle nearly half of the 
great Eastern section of the United States. 
The canals afford long and short routes for 
the motor boat enthusiasts, so that trips can be 
taken covering from one to many weeks or even 
months. The Erie Canal as the longest and 
most picturesque of our artificial waterways at¬ 
tracts more motor boats than any other, for in 
addition to the pleasant adventures, by the way, 
the end of the journey leads one to the Great 
Lakes, and the majestic St. Lawrence, where 
motor boating reaches the height of its popu¬ 
larity. A steady stream of boats of all sizes 
make this trip through the Erie every summer. 
Last season a fleet of fifty passed a single point 
in one day. In the late summer and fall the re¬ 
turn trip is made. 
But the traffic begins on th.e other end as 
well as on the New York side. Scores of 
yachtsmen on the Great Lakes have always 
cast longing eyes upon the waters around New 
York, and have experienced a great desire to 
sail on them. Now their ambition is realized. 
More than fifty motor boats from the yachting 
clubs on the Great Lakes passed through the 
Erie canal last season and cruised around New 
York and on Long Island Sound. This ex¬ 
change of salt- and fresh-water yachtsmen has 
stimulated closer relationship between the 
clubs, and in time it will result in establishing 
keener racing competitions. 
The trip through the Erie Canal in a modern 
motor boat is popular among amateur sailor- 
men as well as the professional. It appeals 
even to those world-encircling mortals who are 
not content unless they are breaking records 
through new and unexplored regions. A num¬ 
ber of these have encircled practically the whole 
of the eastern half of our country in forty-foot 
boats, beginning on the Great Lakes and run¬ 
ning on the Chicago drainage canal and Illinois 
River to the Mississippi, and thence down to the 
Gulf of Mexico and up the coast to New York. 
From this point the trip is made back home 
through the Hudson and Erie Canal. The Erie 
thus forms a connecting link between the in¬ 
land fresh-water yachtsmen and those located 
on the coast. 
But this canal is by no means the only popu¬ 
lar artificial waterway open to the owners of 
motor boats. One of the favorite canals is the 
old Morris & Essex, which leads from New 
York Bay via the Hackensack to beautiful Lake 
Hopatcong, fifty miles from New York, and 
then, if one wishes to continue the canal trip, 
he can go on through Port Morris to the Dela¬ 
ware River beyond. This trip takes one up 
through a series of eighteen locks until an ele¬ 
vation of 900 feet is reached—a veritable moun¬ 
tain for a motor boat to climb—and thence 
down again almost to sea level on the Delaware 
by another series of locks and inclined rail¬ 
ways. Lake Hopatcong is the half-way house, 
and scores of motor boats make this trip every 
summer. The canal leads through the most 
picturesque parts of New Jersey, and opens for 
the yachtsmen extended panoramas of farming 
land and rolling hills and mountains. The trip 
to the Delaware can be prolonged by returning 
another way. 
A short trip down the Delaware brings one to 
Bordentown, where the Delaware and Raritan 
Canal has its western entrance. Back through 
this canal the motor boat travels some forty- 
four miles to New Brunswick, where one enters 
the tortuous Raritan river. A ten-mile sail 
through this river brings one to South Amboy, 
and from there through the Arthur Kills and 
Kill von Kull back of Staten Island the traveler 
reaches New York Bay. 
George E. Walsh, 
[to be concluded.] 
Canoeing. 
Canvas-Covered Canoes. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In the July number of Outing is an article 
on the canoe, by Dillon Wallace, which 1 read 
with interest. He knows more about canoes 
than I; nevertheless, when he asks his readers 
to believe with him that an Oldtown Indian 
originated the canvas canoe some thirty years 
ago, I am moved to say a word or two in the 
matter. 
Of course, one can easily believe that an In¬ 
dian had a dilapidated birch canoe and that he 
made it water-tight with a piece of cotton cloth, 
in the absence of birch bark. For that matter, 
I long ago did the same thing myself, with 
never a thought of Oldtown. I had an old 
Lake Superior birch canoe, which had been 
given me by Rev. Luther Pardee, of Chicago, 
but as canoe birches had become scarce, there 
seemed no easy way of putting it in order. 
There was the frame, however, and I one day 
covered the whole canoe with canvas, thus 
making a good and serviceable craft. It is still 
in commission on the Intermediate Lakes, in 
Michigan. 
Now. the main thing in canoes, as in other 
craft, is the frame. In the two cases cited, the 
pattern of the frame had come down through 
many generations of savages, but it so hap¬ 
pened that I had made a frame, and covered 
it with canvas, more than fifty years ago, and 
there are now living at least two men who 
cruised with me in that same canoe. 
In the late autumn of 1858 I was living in 
my native town of Lancaster, Mass., and was 
suffering from a severe inflammation of the 
eyes. As the cold weather came on, I found it 
best to stay as little as possible in any room 
where there was a fire. I cast about for some 
occupation by the aid of which I could pass the 
winter days in a cold room, and decided to build 
a- canoe. Over his carriage house , my father 
had an empty room where this work could be 
carried on, but it was not easy to get the ma¬ 
terial, as canoes were unknown in that part of 
the country. 
I had read in accounts of explorations in 
the far North that canvas had been used as a 
temporary expedient in making some sort of 
a craft in which to cross water, and my brother 
had seen on the Chateaugay Lake in the pos¬ 
session of an artist, a sort of egg-shaped can¬ 
vas affair, which, as he said, did not look like 
a boat, but which its owner used in moving 
from place to place. , 
ARTHUR BINNEY 
(Formerly Stiwait lc Iinmey) 
Naval Architect and Yacht Brokar 
Masan Building, Kilby Street, BOSTON, MASS. 
Cakle Address, 4 Designer,” Boetoi 
COX (El STEVENS 
Yacht Brokers and Naval Architects 
15 William Street, - New York 
Telephones 1375 and 1376 Broad 
GIELOW (SL ORR 
Naval Architects, Engineers and Yacht Broker* 
Plans, Specifications and Estimates furnished for Construction, 
Alteration and Repairs. Large list of Yachts for Sale, 
Charter or Exchange; also Commercial Vessels. 
52 BROADWAY Telephone 4673 Broad NEW TOM 
Canoe Handling and Sailing. 
The Canoe: History, Uses, Limitations and \ arieties, 
Practical Management and Care, and Relative Facts. 
By C. Bowyer Yaux (“Dot”). Illustrated. Cloth. 168 
pages. Price, $1.00. New and revised edition, with 
additional matter. 
A complete manual for the management of the canoe. 
Everything is made intelligible to' the veriest novice, and 
Mr. Yaux proves himself one of those successful in¬ 
structors who communicate their own enthusiasm to 
their pupils. 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 
My Friend The Partridge. 
S. T. Hammond. A delightful reminder of crisp 
autumnal days in the covers. It tells of sport with the 
noblest of game birds, the habits and habitat of the 
ruffed grouse, with just the right touch of reminiscence 
and personal experience. Cloth., Illustrated, 160 page*. 
Postpaid, $1.00. 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 
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