North Canoe: Very Slow and Bad Travelling

In 1858, Assiniboine and Saskatchewan Exploring Expedition was charged to explore the fur trading routes between Lake Superior and the Red River and determine whether or not white settlement should move westward. As part of the expedition, they acquired six North Canoes. Photographer Humphrey Lloyd Hime accompanied the expedition to document their findings in photos. Along the way, he took the photo Encampment on the Red River.

The photo shows a birchbark North Canoe (canot du nord). The photo includes expedition leader Henry Youle Hind, who wrote of their canoe:

The canoe assigned to me proved unfortunately to be, not only very slow, but in bad travelling condition, requiring constant repair, and no small canoe being attached to the brigade, I have not been able to visit many localities out of the direct line of route, and even had such a canoe been available, it is not probable that much use could have been made of it, as the brigade was compelled, with its heavily ladened components, to push on to our destination with the least possible delay.

Henry Youle HInd, Report on the exploration of the country between Lake Superior and the Red River settlement, p. 26

What strikes me about the photo is that it give a good representation of the scale of the North Canoe. When I modeled the Hudson’s Bay Company North Canoe from Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America, I mentally registered the width of the canoe at 59 inches as large. But, seeing an original with people sitting in front of it gives scale to that width. It was a big canoe. I don’t believe that I’ve seen a similarly sized replica before, so seeing this photo of an original provided scale.

While you can find reproductions of the photo elsewhere, such as in the More than “competent description of an intractably empty landscape”: A strategy for critical engagement with historical photographs, which is an interesting art critism article about other photographs created on the expedition, the best I’ve come across is from Natural Magic: Salted Paper Prints in North America.

I recently found Natural Magic on sale for $15 and decided it would be worth adding to my collection of photography books. There are still a few copies available at the price on Amazon. If you collect photography books, I recommend it. I want to learn the process of creating salted paper prints and have been researching it. That lead to the book and this photo.

Anyway, it’s interesting to see the scale of these old north canoes from the fur trading days. I don’t think I’d want to have to paddle and portage one through the areas that the fur traders and this expedition took them.