546 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. i, 1910. 
same manner as its regular officers, representa¬ 
tives of that Division to serve as members of 
the Racing Board for a term of three years, or 
until their successors are elected; representa¬ 
tion of the Division on the Board to be accord¬ 
ing to membership, as follows: One represen¬ 
tative for the first two hundred, or fraction 
thereof, and one for each additional hundred, 
or fraction thereof. 
The basis of representation shall be the num¬ 
ber of members, as printed in the latest Year 
Book. 
The Commodore shall be a member ex- 
officio, but shall not vote except in case of a tie. 
Cut out the last clause of Section 10 (six 
lines) and make new Section 11, to read as fol¬ 
lows: 
Quorum.-—At all meetings of the Racing 
Board a majority shall be necessary to make a 
quorum, but in the absence of any member, he 
may appoint by letter, another active member 
to vote for him at such meeting; but no mem¬ 
ber to have more than one vote. 
RACING REGULATIONS. 
Amend Rule XVIII. to read as follows: 
Should the owner of any canoe, duly entered 
for a race, consider that he has a fair ground 
of complaint against another, he must give 
notice of the same before leaving his boat on 
the finish of the race, to the Regatta Committee, 
and must present the same in writing within an 
hour. 
The Regatta Committee shall, after hearing 
such evidence as they may deem necessary, de¬ 
cide the protest. 
An appeal from the decision of the Regatta 
Committee may be made to the Racing Board 
for immediate action, and their decision shall 
be final. 
No member of the Committee or Racing 
Board shall take part in the decision of any 
question in which he is interested. 
The Regatta Committee shall, without pro¬ 
test, disqualify any canoe, which to their knowl¬ 
edge has committed a breach of the rules. 
H. Lansing Quick. 
The Use of Canvas in Canoe Building. 
The use of canvas as a covering for boats is 
carried back a long time by Kelpie’s statement 
in a recent number of Forest and Stream, in 
which he shows that he covered a boat with 
canvas as long ago as 1858. His statement that 
the canvas canoe was not invented by the Old 
Town Indians is undoubtedly correct. 
The use of canvas as a substitute for birch 
bark in canoe building is comparatively recent 
and presumably did not take place generally 
until about thirty years ago. On the other hand 
canvas was used before Kelpie’s time as a cover¬ 
ing for vessels used to transport freight across 
Western rivers. A wagon box covered by canvas 
and made as tight as possible could carry loads 
of freight across a stream while the animals 
swam over and the running gears were hauled 
through the water. Boats covered by skin 
stretched upon a wooden frame are a good deal 
older than history. 
Among the Old Town Indians, not every one 
was a canoe builder. Many men might build 
canoes of some sort, but all were no more good 
canoe builders than all white men are boat build¬ 
ers. Mr. Manly Hardy, who has personally known 
every canoe builder in the Old Town tribe for 
the last fifty years, knew in that time only four 
good canoe builders—Sabbattis Denny, Joseph 
Polis (Thoreau's guide), Seppial Scokalexis and 
Francis Mitchell. The Indians did not begin 
to use canvas to cover canoes until after the 
supply of ,birch bark failed, and this was long 
after the whites had begun to build canvas 
canoes. To-day in settled countries the birch 
bark canoe is almost never seen. 
There is this to be said of Kelpie’s claim: 
The writer he referred to credited the Old 
Town Indians with originating the craft known 
as canvas-covered canoes, while Kelpie wrote of 
canvas canoes. 
The idea of setting up a keel, stems, ribs and 
gunwales, then covering the whole with canvas 
is not new. The method employed in the craft 
commonly called the rag canoe—canvas-covered 
—is a vast improvement over tjie old way. It 
consists of a complete hull of cedar planks 
fastened securely to broad ribs. Generally there 
is neither keel nor keelson. This hull is made 
quite tight, but not waterproof, its object be¬ 
ing strength, protection to the canvas skin, and 
the preservation of form. The canvas is treated 
on one or both surfaces with oil paint, then 
stretched very tightly over the cedar hull and 
heavily filled with several coats of paint, each 
one of which is rubbed down when dry. The 
finishing coat is spar varnish. Gunwales, in¬ 
wales and a shoe or false keel complete the 
craft, which is cross-braced with thwarts and 
generally fitted with two caned seats. The skin 
is as tight as a drumhead, and so long as it is 
kept free from punctures on stones and snags, 
it is water-tight. 
This method differs radically from the can¬ 
vas-covered skeleton frame. It is not flabby; 
it is more* buoyant; punctures are resisted by the 
springy planking. Withal it is comparatively 
heavy, and far less buoyant than the cedar and 
basswood canoes, which preceded it and which 
still compete with it for popular favor. 
The heaviest grade of cotton duck is em¬ 
ployed in covering these canvas-covered canoes. 
The weight of the duck is. considerable, but is 
deemed necessary, as providing a thick skin 
for the sake of durability, and being less'likely 
than thinner material to stretch. Linen has 
been used over wooden hulls, but while it is 
light and reduces the buoyancy but little, it 
is quite susceptible to puncture. 
Paper in many sheets laid in glue, and com¬ 
pressed, has long been employed as a skin for 
canoes, rowing shells and other boats. This, 
howtever, is not very buoyant; it is not very 
resilient; it is not so easy to repair if punctured. 
Atlantic Division, A. C. A. 
Saturday, Sept. 3, was the day for the camp 
at Hermit Point to open, but owing to the rain 
a great many of the campers did not show up, 
consequently there were not as many in camp 
that night as were expected. The headquarters 
tent and materials were lost in transit, and 
everything seemed to combine to discourage 
the campers. The weather on Sunday at times 
was not much better, but the crowd gradually 
assembled despite it, until by Monday morn¬ 
ing a good bunch were on hand. The register 
showed sixty-seven members and thirty-seven 
visitors, besides some who just dropped in for 
a little while. 
The Division officers, Vice-Commodore 
Quasebart, Rear-Commodore Tims, and Purser 
Wilson were on hand. Ayres, of the Execu¬ 
tive Committee, also Hike Bering and Frank 
Cromwell, members-elect of the Executive 
Committee, were present, acting as Campsite 
Committee. 
Harry Noah, Purser-elect, was among those 
present, serving as Regatta Chairman, and Ben 
Hill held down the Entertainment Committee 
business. Chipmunk was there with the punch, 
and members from the following clubs were 
among the campers: Knickerbocker, Inwood, 
Undercliff, Fort Washington, Hiawatha, Red 
Dragon, Yapewi, Yonkers and Keystone. 
Sunday evening was spent around the camp¬ 
fire with Chipmunk’s punch, the ladies being 
present. 
Early Monday morning the male members of 
camp had a parade, and nearly all were on hand 
to participate. 
The races on Labor Day resulted as follows: 
One man, single blades, [d-mile— First, F. 
Smith. Knickerbocker C. C.; second, E. C. 
Kelly, Fort Washington C. C. 
Tail end race, J-jj-mile—First, J. Marshall, In¬ 
wood C. C.; second, E. C. Kelly, Fort Wash¬ 
ington C. C. 
Tandem, double blades, 54 -mile—First, H. 
Calahan and G. Henshaw, Knickerbocker C. C.; 
second, A. Bering and D. Finn, Inwood C. C. 
Club fours, double blades, 54 -mile—First, H. 
Calahan. F. Smith, G. Henshaw and W. An¬ 
drews, Knickerbocker C. C.; second, V. W. 
Dexheimer. E. C. Kelly, A. Von Dbhln and E. 
V. Walker, Fort Washington C. C. 
Club fours, single blades, [ 4 -mile—First V. 
W. Dexheimer, E. C. Kelly, A. Von Dohln and 
E. V. Walker, Fort Washington C. C.; second, 
A. Bering, F. Baldwin, H. Berning and D. Finn, 
Inwood C. C. 
One man, double blades, J/^-milc—First, F. 
Smith, Knickerbocker C. C.; second T. Zuk, 
Fort Washington C. C. 
Tandem, singles, —First, T. Zuk and 
J. Molner, Fort Washington C. C.; second, H. 
Calahan and G. Henshaw, Knickerbocker C. C. 
The open canoe sailing races were omitted on 
account of lack of wind, and the Elliott trophy 
was postponed until the following Saturday for 
the same reason. This was run off at the 
. Knickerbocker C. C. with eight entries. Wilbur 
Andrews, in the Tot, won, and J. Russell 
Magers,. in the Bat, came in second. 
The official business of the camp consisted of 
two meetings, a meeting of nominating com¬ 
mittee to select nominee for racing board and a 
general meeting to elect said member and trans¬ 
act other business. 
The nominating committee meeting was held 
at noon. Vice-Commodore Quasebart, R. D. 
C. C., presided, Purser Wilson, R. D. C. C., 
acted as Secretary. The following delegates 
were present: F. W. C. C.—-Von Dohln and 
Tims; Hiawatha—Near and Donaldson; Inwood 
—Hill and Marshall; K. C. C.—Stockwell and 
Mayers; Yapewi—Ayres; Yonkers—Quick and 
Barr. 
The committee selected H. L. Quick, present 
member, as nominee and adjourned. 
A special meeting of the Atlantic Division 
was. held at Hermit Point Camp, Sept. 5, at 
1 p. m. Vice-Commodore Quasebart presided. 
Nominating committee reported H. L. Quick's 
name as Atlantic Division representative on the 
racing board. Report accepted and Mr. H. L. 
Quick elected by acclamation. 
Motion that the Vice-Commodore appoint a 
committee of .three to draft an amendment to 
the constitution to give the Divisions repre¬ 
sentation on the racing board, according to 
membership. Carried. 
Motion that this amendment be brought be¬ 
fore the next executive committee meeting, and 
that the recommendation of Division accom¬ 
pany same. Carried. 
Motion that the vacancies on the racing board 
caused by the passing of this amendment be 
filled by the vice-commodore or executive com¬ 
mittee, as follows: First, George Douglass. K. 
C. C.; second, Clayton C. Wilson, R. D. C. C.; 
third, Fred Baldwin I. C. C. Carried. 
Meeting adjourned on motion. 
Committee appointed by vice-commodore: 
H. L. Quick, Chairman; M. Ohlmyer, G. 
Douglass. Frank T. Wilson, Purser. 
A. C. A. Membership. 
NEW MEMBERS PROPOSED. 
Central Division.-—Meredith M. Watson. 1115 
Trenton avenue, Wilkinsburg, Pa., by H. D. 
James. 
Northern Division.—William Bearance, 493 
Princess street, Kingston, Ont., Can., by John 
McKay. 
NEW MEMBERS ELECTED. 
Atlantic Division.—6115, Eugene V. Coggy, 
Hammonton, N. J.; 6116, Edward Baker, 508 
West 135th street, New York city. 
PROPOSED FOR ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP. 
Mrs. John J. Hattenbrun, 668 Union avenue, 
New York city; Mrs. Harry Schrader, 486 West 
165th street, New York city, and Mrs. George 
Willing, 153 West 16th street, New York city, 
all proposed by B. Frank Cromwell, No. 4659 
(proxy for R. F. Tims, No. 5223), and seconded 
by Frederic Andreas, No. 4806. 
Mrs. Hermann Dudley Murphy, Winchester, 
Mass., proposed by H. Lansing Quick, No. 
1217, and seconded by J. N. MacKendrick, No. 
6 33 - 
Mrs. A. W. Friese, 554 Rand McNally Bldg., 
Chicago, Ill., and Mrs. D. H. Crane, 200 Adams 
street, Chicago, Ill., both proposed by A. W. 
Friese, No. 2566. 
