1534-1760 - The Aboriginal Contribution

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The fantastic Birch bark canoe

The birch bark canoe is, without a doubt, one of the most outstanding feats of Aboriginal ingenuity and engineering. The Natives of Canada invented an ultra-light and easy-to-handle watercraft, which both met their needs and and proved perfectly adapted to navigation on fast-running rivers filled with innumerable waterfalls and rapids. The result was a light birch bark canoe capable of being easily carried along the portage paths that circled around water barriers and obstacles.

The Aboriginals used the bark of the “white birch”, or “paper birch”, the Latin scientific name being Betula papyrifera, to build their canoes. The same material was used for the canot du maître, or the canot de Montréal used by the voyageurs during the fur trade era. The Natives also made use of the bark of that tree to make containers for the collection of maple sap water and to build their wigwams¹.

For the building of canoes, the birch bark had to be gathered in winter or in spring. It was at that time of the year that the bark was at its best. It was stronger and easier to remove from the trunk of the tree at that time. Ideally, sections of bark eighteen-feet long were sought out. Once removed from the tree, the bark was rolled up and tied with care before being brought back to the village. It was important that the bark not be left out to dry in the air or in the sun before it was used. For the bark to remain soft and pliable, it had to be kept submerged in water.²

Besides birch bark, other materials were needed to build the canoe. Hardwood and cedar were required for the frame of the canoe. The sheathing, which covers the bottom of the canoe and the ribs of the frame were made of cedar planks, whereas the transverse pieces called thwarts were made with birch planks³. The frame and gunwale pieces were tied with “watape” and “babiche”, the birch bark was sewn with “watape” and spruce gum, or resin was used to caulk, seal, and waterproof the seams in the bark⁴.

The “watape” was a strap made with the roots of the grey pine, also known as the jack pine or the scrub pine. Its roots were very long and ran along the surface of the ground. These were uprooted, split, cleaned and boiled for hours until they became supple. They were then used as straps to solidify and tie the members of the frame and to sew the pieces of birch bark together. “Watape” was the only material used for that operation⁵. The “babiche” cords, or bands made of soaked rawhide strips were only used to solidify the frame by tying together its longitudinal parts⁶.

The construction of a birch bark canoe was a step-by-step process and the work extended over many weeks. In the heyday of the fur trade, trading posts would reserve one of the post buildings for the making and repairing of canoes. That task was considered to be of primary importance. The first step was to unroll the bark, with the inner surface down, and flattened over the building bed⁷. A frame assembly corresponding to the shape of the canoe was then placed over the bark in order to define the shape of the hull. The sides of the bark were folded upwards and they were held in position by a series of stakes driven into the ground on either side of the building frame. Ocassionally, stones were placed on the bark to hold it in place. The stakes facilitated the shaping of the sides and the installation and assembly of the frame. The wooden strips that go into the frame were scalded or soaked in water to give them the required bend. Once the various pieces of bark had been sewn together with straps of “watape”, the top of the canoe skin was lashed to the gunwales, at regular intervals, from the bow (front) to the stern (back). The interior joints and seams of the canoe were caulked with spruce gum before the cedar sheathing was fitted to the bottom of the canoe. The cedar ribs, which had been measured, shaped and dried, were now inserted on the inside of the canoe, over the cedar-sheathed bottom. The permanent thwarts made of birch planks were then lashed to both gunwales strenghtening and giving greater rigidity to the hull of the canoe. The final step consisted of caulking the outside of the canoe. The joints and seams were filled with hot viscous gum, or tar, in order to ensure a perfect waterproof seal⁸. Such patient and meticulous work was bound to give striking results. These are embodied in the fantastic birch bark canoe.

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