386 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Sept. 3, 1910. 
I think it was this which decided me to make 
my canoe of canvas, and I went to a basket 
factory in Leominster, where I procured such 
material as I thought I could utilize. I wanted 
to make the craft about fourteen feet long, but 
the longest strip I could get for a keel piece 
was too short for this, and I had to make the 
frame as best I could with the means at hand. 
For the canvas I sent to Boston, and ordered 
the heaviest number of sail duck that I could 
get. Something- lighter would have done as 
well, but I did not know it then. I had a black¬ 
smith make from three-eighths iron six pieces 
to fit in the curves of the knees, which, being 
of basket stuff, I feared might not be strong- 
enough. 
It was slow work, building that canoe, for 
the work was new to me, and I could scarcely 
use my eyes. Then the criticisms from local 
boatmen and hunters were not encouraging. 
Some of them reminded me of the lines of 
Scott, in the “Monastery”: 
“Sain ye. and save ye. and blithe mot ye be. 
For seldom they land that go swimming with me.” 
So I thought I would call my craft the Kel¬ 
pie, and let him do his worst: and this re¬ 
minds me that nearly twenty years ago George 
Ellard. of Cincinnati, thought when he gave 
that name to a boat he had, that he had the 
prior claim to the appellation, but I wrote for 
your paper an article which convinced him that 
he was wrong. 
At last the canoe was finished. It had been 
slow work, but I was glad that I had made it. 
It never swamped or capsized, and it served 
me well for years until it was stolen from me in 
Connecticut. S. W. Hatheway, of Boston, was 
my companion on a cruise from Lancaster to 
Newburvoort. and Professor E. H. Russell for 
some thirty-five years at the head of the State 
Normal Institute at Worcester, Mass., cruised 
with me for weeks on Squam and Winnepesau- 
kee Lakes. He has now retired to his ances¬ 
tral home in Sanbornton. N. H. 
I recently made a sketch from mernorv of the 
Kelpie, and submitted it to Captain Kendall, 
whose “5,000 Miles in a Rag Canoe” was pub¬ 
lished some twenty-five years ago in your pa¬ 
per. He was much interested, said he would 
like to have Mr. Reynolds see it, and said that 
I ought to send you the sketch, just as it is. 
This I have decided to do, and perhaps, if you 
wish. I may follow this article with some notes 
on my canoe experiences of fifty years ago, 
when Hatheway and I saw but one canoe (a 
birch) between Lancaster and Newburyport. 
Kelpie. 
[In the summer of 1883 a party of men de¬ 
scended the Wabash River in a canvas-covered 
canoe, and stopped in one of the towns for a 
time, leaving their canoe at a boathouse. We 
examined this canoe very carefully, for several 
reasons: it was at the time when amateurs 
were building the cranky craft composed of a 
light skeleton of wood supporting a canvas 
covering: it was much larger than any of the 
Canadian cedar canoes commonly used in those 
waters; and it was very well made, strong and 
dry, though old. It differed from the present- 
day canvas-covered canoe in minor respects 
only. The sheathing resembled that of the 
birchbark canoe, but the ribs were broad and 
spaced as are those of the present day. The 
covering was very heavy cotton duck protected 
with thick red paint such as is used on ships’ 
hulls. As this had not been rubbed down, the 
surface was quite rough. This canoe was twen¬ 
ty-eight or thirty feet long, and judging from 
its appearance was five to ten years old, but 
had been taken care of, and was in good condi¬ 
tion. The boathouse owner said the party had 
a heavy outfit and had come down from the 
Lake Superior country. He said the canoe was 
“a Mackinac.” Unfortunately we did not see its 
owners, but if they came from the Mackinac re¬ 
gion it is possible they followed one of the 
shores of Lakes Superior and Erie, ascended 
the Maumee River to a convenient place and 
crossed by rail to the Upper Wabash, only 
forty to fifty miles. 
Assuming that this Mackinac canoe was five 
years old in 1883, it must have been built more 
than thirty years ago. It is not reasonable to 
suppose it was the first one of its type, hence 
canvas-covered canoes may have been made in 
the Lake Superior country considerably more 
than thirty years ago.— Editor.] 
CANVAS CANOE MADE BY F. H. THURSTON IN 1858 - 9 . 
Length, ll 1 ,^ feet;, beam, 36 inches; depth, 12 inches, a, thwart; b, knees; c, keelpiece; d, sternpost. 
Traps hooting. 
If you want your shoot to he announced her« 
send a notice like the following: 
Fixtures. 
Sept. 5.—Bergen Beach (L. I.) G. C. L. H. Schorte- 
meier, Sec’y. 
Sept. 5.—Lock Haven (Pa.) G. C. C. A. Jobson, Sec’y. 
Sept. 5-6.—Roanoke, Va.— Virginia State tournament, 
under the auspices of the Roanoke G. C. A. H. H. 
Boyd, Pres. 
Sept. 5-6.—Cincinnati, O.—Hyde Park G. C. Tri-State 
tournament. 
Sept. 13.—Bergen Beach (N. Y.) G. C. L. H. Schorte- 
meier. Sec’y. 
Sept. 14-15.—Red Hook (N. Y.) G. C. W. S. Mossoneau, 
Sec’y. 
Sept. 20.—Temple, Pa.—Hercules G. C. A. K. Ludwig, 
Sec’y. 
Oct. 12.—Bergen Beach (N. Y.) G. C. fourth cosmopol¬ 
itan championship. L. H. Schortemeier, Sec'y. 
Nov. 8 .—Bergen Beach (N. Y.) G. C. L. H. Schorte¬ 
meier, Sec'y. 
Dec. 13.—Bergen Beach (N.Y.) G. C. L. H. Schorte¬ 
meier, Sec’y. 
1911. 
Jan. 2.—Bergen Beach (N. Y.) G. C. eighth annual 
merchandise handicap. L. H. Schortemeier, Sec’y. 
REGISTERED TOURNAMENTS. 
Sept 4-5.—East St. Louis, Ill.—Progressive G. C. N. IL 
Huff, Sec’y. 
Sept. 5.—Clarksburg, W. Va.—Monongahela Valley S. L. 
Ed. H. Taylor, Sec’y. 
Sept. 5.—Herrin (Ill.) G. C. O. H. McNeill, Sec’y. 
Sept. 5.—Niles (O.) G. C. Jos. Rummell, Sec’y. 
Sept. 5.—Williamson (W. Va.) G. C. Bert Shumate, 
Sec’y. 
Sept. 6.—Springfield, Mass., Shooting Club. C. L. Kites, 
Sec’y. 
Sept. 5.—Springfield (Mass.) S. C. C. L. Kites, Sec’y. 
Sept. 5.—Tarpon Springs, Fla.—West Coast G.C. W. W. 
K. Decker, Sec’y. 
Sept. 5.—Cleveland (O.) G. C. F. H. Wallace, Mgr. 
Sept. 5.—Phillipsburg, N. J.—Alert G. C. E. F. Mark- 
ley, Mgr. 
Sept. 5.—Columbia. Pa.—Excelsior R. and G. C. W. M. 
Guiles, Sec’y. 
Sept. 5.—Hammond (Ind.) G. C. J. C. Becker, Sec’y. 
Sept. 6 .—Belleville (Ont.) G. C. Hugh Howey, Sec’y. 
Sept. 5.—Expedit, Pa.—Big Bend R. and G. C. W. C. 
Shiffer. Pres. 
Sept. 5.—Royersford (Pa.) G. C. Harry E Buckwalter, 
Sec’y. 
Sept. 5-6.—Nashville, Tenn.— Cumberland Park Club. 
Irby Bennett, Pres. 
Sept. 5-6.—Cincinnati, O.—Hyde Park G. C. EL W. 
Rugg, Sec’y, pro tern. 
Sept. 5-7.—Vicksburg, Miss.—Mississippi State tourna¬ 
ment, under the auspices of the Vicksburg G. C. 
J. J. Bradfield, Sec’y. 
Sept. 6-7.—Cainsville (Mo.) G. C. G. D. Davis, Sec’y. 
Sept. 7.— Mberta, Can.—Strathcona G. C. Geo. F. 
Dow.ijf-. Sec’y. 
Sept. 6-7.— Tale (la.) G. C. John Nowels, Sec’y. 
Sept. 7.—Hoopeston (Ill.) G. C. Edw. Erickson, Sec’y. 
Sept. 8-9.—White Hall (Ill.) G. C. F. C. Griswold, Sec’y. 
Sept. 8-10.—Atlantic City, N. T. —Westy Hogans tourna¬ 
ment. Bernard Elsesser, Sec’y. 
Sept. 9.—Cedar Rapids, la.—Hawkeye G. C. A. W. 
Vondraeck, Sec’y. 
Sept. 12-13.—Orion (Ill.) G. C. F. S. Fullerton, Sec’y. 
Sept. 13-14.—Omaha, Neb.—Benson G. C. F. T. Lover¬ 
ing, Sec’y. 
Sept. 13-14.—Delta (Colo.) G. C. R. A. King. Sec’y. 
Sept. 14.—Tabor, Ind.—Tab G. C. Arch Glover, Mgr. 
Sept. 14-15.—Youngstown, O.—Struthers and Youngs¬ 
town G. C. J. D. Ward. Sec’y. 
Sept. 14-15.—Perry (Okla.) G. C. J. T. Gregorie, Sec’y. 
Sept. 15.—Williamsport (Ind.) G. C. H. C. Salts, Sec’y. 
Sept. 15.—Allentown (Pa.) R. and G. C. C. H. Snyder, 
Sec’y 
Sept. 16-17.—Reading, Pa.—South End G. C. Howard 
Melchior, Sec’y. 
Sept. 17.—Beverly, Mass.—United Shoe Mchy. G. C. 
Geo. F. Eaton, Pres. 
Sept. 19.—Newton (Ill.) G. C. C. M. Franke, Sec’y. 
Sept. 19.—Uniontown (Pa.) G. C. F. C. Robinson, Sec’y. 
Sept. 20-21.—Marion, Ind.—Queen City G. C. Frank 
Howard, Sec’y. 
Sept. 21-23.—Decatur, Ill.—Target G. C. A. W. McKee, 
Sec’y. 
Sept. 22.—Wapakoneta (O.) G. C. Chas. E. Zint, Sec’y. 
Sept. 22-23.—Paden Park (W. Va.) G. C. T. M. Mclntire, 
Sec’y. 
Sept. 22-23.—Bridgeport (Ill.) G. C. Geo. W. Ball, Sec’y. 
Sept. 22-23.—Du Bois (Pa.) G. C. U. S. N. Crouse, Sec’y. 
Sept. 22-24.—Phoenix, Ariz.—Arizona State tournament, 
under the auspices of the Phoenix G. C. A. W. 
Galpin, Sec’y. 
Sept. 23-24.—Troy, N. Y.—Laureate Boat Club. J. J. 
Farrell, Mgr. 
Sept. 25-26.—Behans Grove, Mo.—Peerless R. and G. C. 
Harry A. Boone, Sec’y. 
Sept. 25-26.—Lowell. Ind.—Poplar Springs and Lowell 
G. C. E. A. Surprise, Sec’y. 
Sept. 26-27.—Guthrie (Okla.) G. C. R. V. Smith, Sec’y. 
Sept. 26-28.—Greenville (Miss.) G. C. E. L. Sharkey, Sec. 
Sept. 27-28.—Toledo, O.—West Toledo G. C. Geo. Volk, 
Sec’y. 
Sept. 29.—Huntington, W. Va.—East End G. C. F. H. 
Merrick, Pres. 
Sept. 29-30.—Sikeston (Mo.) G. C. W. H. Tanner, Sec’y. 
Sept. 30.—Fairchance, Pa.—Western Pennsylvania T. S. 
T. tournament, under the auspices of the Fairchance 
G. C. Louis Lautenslager, Pres. 
