Model Fur Trade Canoe Paddles
Detail from a painting of voyageurs by A. S. Scott (HBC Corporate Collection. Image: hbcheritage.ca)
The phenomenal journeys of voyageurs traversing vast, interconnected Canadian waterways in birch bark canoes as they transported furs and supplies for the Hudson’s Bay Company during the 17th-19th centuries have long captured the imaginations of those who are drawn to the adventure of wilderness canoe tripping.
A pair of model fur trade canoe paddles in red and black paint decoration with the initials “HB” (Hudson’s Bay) with interconnected crossbars. Each is 8.75" long with a .5" blade width.
These miniature fur trade canoe paddles (now sold) are tangible reminders of the voyageurs’ feats of endurance paddling across long stretches of calm water, maneuvering through waves and white caps in windy conditions, and navigating turbulent river rapids, all managed with slender shafts of wood shaped for paddling efficiency.
These 19th century model paddles are Native-made, scale models of traditional Eastern Cree paddles favored by voyageurs.
Detail from the F. A. Hopkins 1871 painting “Voyageurs at Dawn” (image: hbcheritage.ca). Note how similar the paddles leaning against the rocks are in shape and decoration to the model “HB” canoe paddles.
The long, thin blades of Eastern Cree paddles have ample surface area for efficient propulsion with each stroke through the water, yet are less tiring to use for hours on end than paddles with wider blades.
Hudson’s Bay Company commissaries engaged Native craftsmen indigenous to the lands and waters the company was plundering to build the birch bark canoes and paddles that were essential for transporting furs from the wilderness to trading posts, and ultimately to the St. Lawrence River and onto ocean-going ships.
An exhibit in the Canadian Canoe Museum showing a replica fur trade canoe outfitted with equipment and supplies (image: kawarthasnorthumberland.ca)
According to the scholars Edwin Tappan Adney and Howard Chapelle in their book Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America, the Atikamekw people, a tribe that is part of the Eastern Cree language group, were the preferred master craftsmen of birch bark canoes and paddles for the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Members of the Atikamekw Nation from the Manawan community, circa 1900. (image: wikipedia)
Atikamekw birch bark canoes (image: Adney & Chapelle, 1964)
The Atikamekw live in an area that was once the heart of fur trade country, and the southern portions of their territory included habitat where birch trees for making both canoes and paddles were large and plentiful. Atikamekw are still known as “people of the bark” for their skillful artistry which has been maintained and passed down through generations.
The Atikamekw homeland which they call Nitaskinan translated as “Our Land,” is the upper Saint-Maurice River Valley of Quebec, about 190 miles north of Montreal. The Saint-Maurice River, which the Atikamekw call Sipi Tapiskwan translated as the "river of the threaded needle" and its tributaries were a major fur trade route down to the St. Lawrence River. Of their three communities, the northern-most is in boreal forest dominated by spruce and fir trees, so birch bark work was not as much of a tradition there as it was in the south.
A fur trading post was established on ancestral Atikamekw homelands on the north shore of the Saint-Maurice River in 1806 by an independent French fur trader, which was then taken over in 1821 by Hudson’s Bay Company. It is now the site of the First Nations Atikamekw reserve called Wemotaci.
Atikamekw man with canoes and paddle (image: Adney & Chapelle, 1964)
The French colonists called the Atikamekw peoples Têtes-de-Boule which is how Adney & Chappelle refer to them, as in the caption for Adney’s drawing of a traditional Atikamekw canoe and paddle.
Paddle Attribution
These model paddles are made of birch rather than ash or cedar, and have the characteristic shape of Atikamekw paddles with a long, thin blade and pear-shaped grip.
The paddles’ shape, species of wood, paint decoration and the “HB” initials all lead us to attribute them to being made by an Atikamekw.
There is however, variation in the design and decoration of Eastern Cree paddles, both between tribes and within tribes. Paddle making involved individual innovation by each maker based on paddling preferences, artistic inspiration, and material constraints.
A paint-decorated Eastern Cree canoe paddle in a private collection.
This photo shows the same paddle with its sister paddle below it, both by the same maker but with different handle shapes. (image: cowanauctions.com)
While the generalized style of a canoe paddle is distinctively unique to an indigenous culture within a region, individual variations can make it difficult to attribute a particular paddle to a certain tribe within a cultural group that is as large as the Eastern Cree.
Another Eastern Cree canoe paddle in a private collection. Note the similarity in grip shape to the model “HB” paddles.
Historic Model Canoe Paddles
There are examples of 19th century models of Native-made canoe paddles in museums that come from the same tradition as the pair we’re offering for sale.
Model paddles are included in the equipment of this pre-1845 model in the Metropolitan Museum of a fully-outfitted birch bark fur trade canoe, along with other miniature accoutrements such as fish spears, rolls of birch bark, river poles and pennants.
The blade and handle shapes of the model paddles above are characteristic of Eastern Cree fur trade canoe paddles. Note the carved step transition between the blade and the shaft of the paddles which the “HB” model paddles also have, although not as pronounced.
(image: Trading Identities by Ruth B. Philips)
The canoe model above is a war canoe, a type of birch bark canoe that was as large as a fur trade canoe but built for a different purpose.
This model, now in the Canadian Museum of History, was made circa 1815 by Ottawa Chief Jean-Baptiste Assiginack as a gift for the British allies whom he fought alongside during the war of 1812 in the upper Great Lakes border region between Lakes Michigan and Huron.
This early birch bark canoe model includes paddles in the hands of warrior figures posed in active paddling positions. The paddles have long, thin blades characteristic of both Ojibwe and Eastern Cree paddles.
Both of these birch bark canoe models provide early documentation of model canoe and model paddle making by northern North American Native tribes.
The Penchant for Model Making
Humans have long been compelled to make scale models of things that intrigue, delight or have special meaning for them. Archeologists have traced model making as far back as the 3rd millennium BC when Egyptians made models of dwellings complete with furniture, people, livestock and boats to place in pyramids as a religious ritual. (information from tourmalinenow.com)
Model making of all types – automobiles, railways, aircraft, boats, houses, furniture, and so on – continues to be a popular pursuit, inspiring hobbyists to master a wide range of skills and learn deeply about a subject while satisfying an artistic urge and pleasantly escaping from everyday concerns into a realm requiring deep concentration. (information from scalemodelguide.com)
But for North American indigenous people, making models of the equipment they used in everyday life such as snowshoes, canoes and paddles, was a way of sharing their cultural identity, traditions, and skills in a small-scale format which visitors to their homeland could take away as souvenirs.
Atikamekw elder Nrowi Newashish (aka Louis Newashish), circa 1894
A contemporary Atikamekw craftsman making birch bark canoe models (image: voyageamerindiens.com)
It was their way of saying “Remember Me” and all that we are as a people, a sentiment that is particularly poignant coming from Native people whose rights, history, and needs have often been tragically forgotten.
Passamaquoddy artist Tomah Joseph actually inscribed the words “Remember Me” in his language, Mikwid’hamin, on some of his birch bark work, most notably on the birch bark canoe he made for a young Franklin Delano Roosevelt. (image: History on Birch Bark by Joan A. Lester)
Whether these Native-made model fur trade canoe paddles were created to sell as a souvenir, to give away as a gift, or to pass down within a family, they also compel us to remember—in this case the complex history of Native and European interactions in fur trade country, including their commercial co-dependence around the use of natural resources, and the mutual appropriation of skills and traditions.
On a more visceral level, these scale-model canoe paddles encapsulate the aesthetic satisfaction and simple joy of paddling a graceful watercraft with a well-designed paddle.
