Meryl Grandy

Karen Perly has prepared a well written biography (*.pdf format) of Gabe Acquin, a Maliseet (Wolastoqiyik) guide who was the first to permanently settle on land that would eventually become St. Mary's First Nation. It's a great read and is loaded with wonderful photos and details.

I've posted a famous photo of Gabe with a canoe paddle on the site before beginning with a 2008 listing on LiveAuctioneers.com which had an original albumen photograph with the hand written caption "Indian Guide, c1870".


Lot 2478: Albumen Photo
American "Indian Guide", 1870
Original Listing
.
At the time, I was unaware who the guide was until blog reader Luc Poitras informed me of the guide's identity. Another black and white image of the same pose is found in the University of New Brunswick archives.

In 1860, the then 18-year-old Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII) visited Fredericton. After paddling by Government House in his birchbark canoe, Gabe was hailed by the prince who is intrigued by the canoe's construction. Gabe casually invited him for a ride and paddled the future king to the mouth of the Nashwaak River before returning. Many years later, Gabe was invited to England in 1883 as one of Canada’s entries in the International Fisheries Exhibition in London.

Subsequently a book was published, Fisheries of the World : an Illustrated and Descriptive Record of the International Fisheries Exhibition, 1883. A sketch was included with the caption "Indian in Birch Canoe, Fisheries Exhibition" and is quite likely an image of Gabe.





The grainy closeup of the image shows quite a distinct Maliseet style paddle with elongated grip and carved ornamental drip ring...


As a comparison, check out this post featuring  some Maliseet paddles dated to circa 1880 at the New Brunswick Museum.

League of the Ho-dé-no-sau-nee or Iroquois, the work of Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-1881) has sketches of typical Iroquoian artifacts ranging from clothing to weapons to baskets. Volume III includes a write up on the elm bark canoes used by this tribe as well as an illustration.


Elm Bark Canoe
The image dates from 1849 and clearly illustrates the crimped bark of this type of craft, equipped with paddles for a crew of six. Some of the paddles have the decorations on them, simple cross hatched patterns with other carved figures, likely the personal marks of the owner. Here are some closeups.


Marked Paddles - Man with staff/club?


Horse Decoration?

Another paddle photo find in the December 1910 issue of  Rod and Gun in Canada ( Vol. 12, No. 7 ). The article entitled, "A New Brunswick Canoe Trip on the Fascinating Tobique" by Stephen B. Bustin features an image of the Maliseet guide posing with a slim guide paddle with tapering grip.

On Archive.org I came across another work of Henry Schoolcraft entitled The Indian tribes of the United States: Vol 1 (1884). The detailed text contains lots of info regarding history, religion, arts, language, etc. Included amongst the many illustrations is a drawing of three Indians in a canoe along a shoreline gathering wild rice.


Collecting Wild Rice
One holds a very long paddle, probably used for poling in the shallows, while the others use tools to beat grains of rice from their stalks. The grip is also a simple flattened taper, more evidence that this style of grip seems to be commonly used in the past and forgotten by today's manufacturers.


Paddle closeup
Apparently, the image was originally painted by Seth Eastman in 1857 and originally titled, Chippewa Women Gathering Wild Rice. Found a link to one watercolour version here...


Chippewa Women Gathering Wild Rice, c 1857

Another find on Archive.org 's massive collection of vintage texts is a booklet put out by the  Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Company -   In Pine-Tree Jungles: A hand-book for sportsmen and campers in the great Maine woods (1902). While flipping through its pages, I came across two photos that clearly show some early wood canvas canoe designs and wonderful paddles.

The first is on page 17 and features a great bushcraft camp scene. Pot boiling over the fire with canvas shelter rigged up. The canoe on shore looks to be a very early cedar canvas model with closed gunnels and no seats and the thwarts mortised into the inwales like in birchbark canoe construction.



Between the seated gentleman and the canoe, two paddles rest against the canvas shelter. The contrast isn't the greatest, but by zooming in, one can make out the graceful beavertail shape and slender grip. Each look to have a roll on the top. Here is the closeup...





Page 66 has a vertical, full-sized image of a successful hunt scene. Here is the image rotated. Again no seats in these early guide canoes. A paddle is resting on the ground on the lower left of the image...

This paddle image reminded me of a similar design on a pair of child's paddles that were identified as Penobscot made by the antique dealer.




Also, another recent historic photo post revealed an unknown guide using a similarly shaped grip ...

Found some more vintage pics from Archive.org. These two images are from 1904 Report of the Ontario Bureau of Mines. An exploration party in Northern Ontario were searching for coal and other mineral potentials in the Moose River Basin. The first image showcases the exploration party posing on shore with their gear...



The second includes a crew on the Upper Nettogami river poling their canoes. The canoe in front is a sturdy looking birchbark. Poling is hard enough to balance with a single person. Tough to imaging the skill of these canoemen working to tandem upriver...

The 1913 Grand Trunk Railway travel guide entitled, Timagami, a peerless region for sportsman, canoeist and camper has numerous pics of old time guides from this famed canoeing wonderland.  Here's a favourite I cropped from page 14 - a nice shot of a haul of small mouth bass. Paddle and wannigans proudly displayed in the photo too.



The back cover features a photo of "A Timagami Guide" dressed up sharply with his paddle resting against his shoulder taking in a hefty drag of tobacco. Looks like quite the character!

While searching through the Library & Archives of Canada site for historical art, I came across some more work of renowned Canadian artist, Cornelius Krieghoff (1815 – 1872) which featured a highly decorated, chevron-themed paddle. Difficult to spot in the tiny pic, but the paddle is at the lower right of tree, leaning nearly horizontally on a canvas roll pack.


Indian Encampment at Falls
Date: post 1846
Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1989-508-1


Chevron Paddle Closeup

Another more detailed Krieghoff painting which shows a similarly chevron decorated paddle is one of his classic works, Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada.


Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada.
1848
Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1989-511-1


Paddle closeup
If this latter painting looks familiar, it's because it is identical to that in McCord Museum collection that I posted on earlier. It seems that these chevron decorations are a common feature in many historical paintings. Not known is whether this image is based on historically accurate representation or whether Krieghoff took liberties with the painting based on previous images in historical texts