Canoes: A Natural History in North America

Tappan Adney, Calling Moose with the “Moose Horn,” ca. 1896

Artist Unknown, Indians Making Birch Bark Canoes, ca. 1871.

The Baron of Lahontan (Louis-Armand de Lom d'Arce) drew this description of the Iroquois' elm-bark canoes for a three-volume memoir of his time in New France, which ended in 1693.

As a canoe material, elm bark was distinctly different than birch, as evidenced by this example built by Rick Nash.

John Enys

This Penobscot canoe, held by the Peabody Essex Museum, is one of the oldest birch barks in existence and the oldest canoe in one piece.

Frances Anne Hopkins, The Red River Expedition at Kakabeka Falls, 1877.

Théophile Hamel, Portrait de Samuel de Champlain, 1870. Oil on canvas, 66 x 86 cm.

French explorers witnessed the pearl diving industry in the Caribbean, where the newcomers got a glimpse of the native dugouts used in the activity.

George Agnew Reid, The Arrival of Champlain at Quebec, 1909. Pastel on wove paper, 62 × 43 cm.

Samuel de Champlain, Map of New France, 1632.

After Hyacinthe Rigaud, Portrait of Louis, XIV, after 1701.

The painter John James Audubon is more well-known for his images of North American birds, but he also painted other wildlife, such as these two beavers working on a tree.

John Bowles, Thomas Bowles and Herman Moll, A New and Exact Map of the Dominions of the King, 1731.

Beaver pelts were used in making felt, which could be turned into a top hat, shown here with its case.

The process of making hats from the pelts of beavers is partially illustrated in this 1858 artwork from Charles Knight, produced by the London Printing and Publishing Company.

Arthur Heming, The Voyageur, 1915. Oil on canvas, 76.7 × 102.2 cm.

Abby Fuller Abbe, The Voyageur, ca. 1860.

Frederic Remington, Radisson and Groseilliers, 1905. Oil on canvas, 110.2 x 194.3 cm.

Nicholas de Fer, Le Cours du Missisipi, 1718.