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Canoes: A Natural History in North America

Mark Neuzil and Norman Sims

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This is the story of the canoe, that singular American artifact so little changed over time. Featured here are canoes old and new, from birch bark to dugout to carbon fiber; the people who made them; and the adventures they shared. With features of technology, industry, art, and survival, the canoe carries us deep into the natural and cultural history of North America.

Follow author Mark Neuzil on Twitter: @mrneuzil

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Published: 2016

Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

ISBN(s)

9780816681174 (hardcover)

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A watercolor painting of two people paddling through rapids in a birch-bark canoe.

Canoe in Rapids

From Foreword

Winslow Homer, Canoe in Rapids, 1897. Watercolor over graphite on off-white wove paper, 35.4 × 53.3 cm (13 15/16 × 21 in).

Canoeists paddling a Wenonah Kevlar canoe above a rapids in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

Shooting the Rapids

From Introduction

Canoeists paddling a Wenonah Kevlar canoe above a rapids in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

A color photograph of Bill Mason and his family paddling an aluminum canoe through rapids.

Bill Mason

From Chapter 6: Synthetic Canoes

The Canadian artist and author Bill Mason did as much to popularize recreational canoeing as anyone.

Here a Nova Craft Moisie model tackles the rapids on Ontario’s Madawaska River.

Nova Craft Canoe

From Chapter 6: Synthetic Canoes

Here a Nova Craft Moisie model tackles the rapids on Ontario’s Madawaska River.

A black and white photograph from a newspaper article shows two teenage boys posing with oars and packs of gear in front of a canoe. Text above the photograph reads "End Long Canoe Journey" and the caption below says, "Arnold Sevareid (left) and Walter Port, Minneapolis high school boys, as they appeared at the start of their long canoe journey to Hudson's Bay. Photo was taken in Minneapolis just before they 'pushed off.'"

Two Central High School Canoeists Conquer Rapids Indians Failed to Shoot

From Chapter 8: Canoe Tripping

Arnold Sevaried and Walter Port, from an article in the Minneapolis Star published October 11, 1930.