Here is an article titled "The Cruising Canoe and it's Outfit" that was published in the August 1880 issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine. The article describes canoeing and canoeing culture at that time. What interests me is the differences in perceptions between present day and 130 years ago. A passage in the article reads "The Indian birch and dug-out, it is true, belong to the canoe group, but they are, at best, crude craft, unfit for general cruising..." Present day opinions of the birch bark canoe are that of revelry and admiration for a craft that opened up a nation. Most serious canoeists would do just about anything to paddle a bark canoe let alone own one.
Enjoy.
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