The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America »

Edwin Tappan Adney (1868-1950) was an artist, a writer, a photographer and the man credited with saving the art of birch bark canoe construction. He built more than 100 models of different types, which are now housed at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, VA. He is the author of The Klondike Stampede, a book, illustrated with his own photographs, about his experiences in the Yukon during the Gold Rush.

Howard Irving Chapelle (1901-1975) was a curator of maritime history at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. He authored many books and articles on maritime history and marine architecture.

"The definitive book on the subject."—John McPhee

Foreword   John McPhee
Introduction
Early History     7
Materials and Tools     14
Form and Construction     27
Form     27
Construction     36
Eastern Maritime Region     58
Micmac     58
Malecite     70
St. Francis     88
Beothuk     94
Central Canada     99
Eastern Cree     101
Tetes de Boule     107
Algonkin     113
Ojibway     122
Western Cree     132
Fur-Trade Canoes     135
Northwestern Canada     154
Narrow-Bottom Canoe     155
Kayak-Form Canoe     158
Sturgeon-Nose Canoe     168
Arctic Skin Boats   Howard I. Chapelle     174
The Umiak     181
The Kayak     190
Temporary Craft     212
Bark Canoes     212
Skin Boats     219
Retrospect     221
The Kayak Roll   John D. Heath     223
Bibliography     231
Index     235