Dr. Gordon Fisher

Last time we visited Bunny Austin’s guideboat shop.  Bunny’s family has been in Long Lake for six generations and many of his forebears have been boat builders.  Bunny is especially fond of his grandfather Merlie.  It is said that Merlie could build a guideboat in 300 hours, which is a torrid pace as far as I am concerned.  Bunny said Merlie put in long hours during the winter months and that he could build a guideboat in about a month’s time.  Merlie’s rib and stem patterns were passed down to Bunny.  Here they are:

One of Merlie’s guideboats resides not far away in Blue Mountain Lake in a place called the Hedges.  The Hedges is an Adirondack resort built about 1880.  It has been placed on the National Registry of Historic places by the US Department of the Interior.

A visit to the Hedges is stepping back in time to the 1880’s.  Here is a view of Blue Mountain Lake from the Hedges lawn.

In a recent post I talked about the Marion River Carry and the little railroad that took tourists from one end of the Carry to the other.  The steamer Killoqah would pick them up at the Raquette Lake railroad station and take them up the Marion River to the Carry.  Before the railroad was built in 1901, passengers would walk the 3/4 of a mile to the opposite end of the Carry.  Their baggage was most likely transported by carts.  At the eastern of the Carry they were met by the steamer Tuscarora.  Here she is in a photo from that period.

Once everyone was on board she steamed through Utowana and Eagle Lakes into Blue Mountain Lake passing through a swing bridge on the way.  She made a number of stops in Blue Mountain including a large hotel called the Prospect House.  She no doubt stopped at the Hedges too.

The Tuscarora was still around about 10 years ago.  She had been dry docked and used as a guest house by her owner.  There was talk of donating her to the Adirondack Museum but she was in such poor shape that it was decided it would cost too much to restore her.

Before we have dinner we stroll around the lawn and gardens at the Hedges.

The Game Room seems especially Victorian as do the interiors of other buildings at the resort.

It is time to head for the dining room and have dinner and to see Merlie’s guideboat.  It is hung from the ceiling in the Dining Hall.

A plaque on the wall gives some history of the boat.  It is clear from the author, who is unknown, that the boat was cherished by its owners who went to great lengths to keep it in the family.  Here is what the plaque has to say:

Adirondack Guide Boat

Built by Merlin Austin Long Lake, NY

Circa 1900

History as I know it:

The cedar guide boat was built by Merlin Austin of Long lake, NY in the late 1800’s or in the early 1900’s.  It is 14′ 10″ long and I estimate the weight at between 45 and 50 lbs.  Harold Austin, Merlin’s grandson, says it probably cost $150 when new.

My family had a camp on Raquette Lake which they acquired in 1896. My grandfather, C. W. Anderson, gave the guide boat to my mother in probably 1903 or 1905.  Mother’s Wells College friends began to visit Raquette in 1903 and 1905 seems to be a particularly festive year.  I was told it was a second hand boat so Grandpa probably bought it from someone other than Austin himself.

During my days at Camp Anderson the boat was handled very carefully.  There was a painted guide boat which didn’t need much careful handling and was used for fishing and other chores.  Sometime in the 30’s an older cousin took the other boat to Sucker Brook and punched a hole in the side on a root.  The damage was repaired, probably by John Blanchard, a guide boat builder on Raquette Lake.

After Camp Anderson was sold in 1948 Mother and I started to go to North Point (on Raquette Lake) and we stored the boat there over the winter.  Our month-long stays started in 1948 and lasted through 1953.  Herbert Burrell, the owner, changed the operation of North Point in 1954 turning the main building into his private residence  and converting the surrounding buildings into housekeeping cabins.

With no place to go we started traveling. Then friends found a place on Blue Mountain Lake called “Crane Point”and in 1960 the family started going there.  Since I wanted the boat I approached Mr. Burrell about picking it up.  He told me he loaned to an executive of AT&T who rented Camp Uncas from him.  I held my breath wondering if I would ever see the boat again.  It was a great relief when he did go and get the boat.

Time to visit an old friend, Bunny Austin.  Bunny has be under the weather lately but I hear that he is now doing fine.  Now Bunny’s real name is Rev. Harold Austin, but his mom called him Bunny and it stuck.

In the town of Long Lake, NY with a year round population of 900 souls, certain of them are highly thought of, perhaps even revered.  Bunny is one of them.  His soft, gracious manner, his trademark, endears him to the town.

His family has resided in Long Lake for six generations and most of the men in the Austin family have built guideboats.  Currently Bunny is restoring an old guideboat and teaching others in the family how to build them.  Below, Bunny sits for just a minute to have his photo taken.

Here he is with the boat he is currently restoring.

Bunny built his first guideboat in 1978 after he retired from distinguished service in the Marine Corps.  His son, Rob, borrowed the boat to travel the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to raise funds for his college.  Here it is.

Here is a look inside inside Bunny’s first guideboat showing the repairs made after the boat barely survived the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.  It took a new bottom board, replacing the garboard planks and some ribs, and perhaps a stem.  I admire someone who can do these kinds of repairs.  Taking a guideboat apart and putting it back together takes exceptional skill and patience.  I would much rather deal with building a new one.

Another visitor, Domingo, joined me as we toured Bunny’s guideboat shop that day.  Domingo is from San Franciso and is fascinated with guideboats.  On the tour Bunny carefully explained the details of guideboat construction.

Here we see a boat under construction on a “stock” that rotates.  I call it a rotisserie builders jig because you can rotate the nascent boat 360 degrees.  That’s really useful in making sure everything fits properly before fastening things down.

This boat happens to be one hat Bunny’s son Rob is building.  Rob lives in North Carolina so progress is slow.  Bunny remarked that Rob has a feel for boat building since he has built shrimp boats in Louisiana.

Here Bunny explains how ribs are taken from red spruce roots.  These slabs, taken from a red spruce stump, are called flitches.

While we were up in the loft looking at the “roots”, Bunny showed us an old painting of him and his family done while he was in the Marine Corp.  That’s his wife Evi, on the right.  Sadly Evi passed away about 3 years ago.

Bunny said he enlisted in the Marine Corps with the hope of becoming a Marine pilot.  On the rifle range during boot training he recorded perfect scores in marksmanship.  This delayed acceptance into flight school because he was so valuable teaching riflery to recruits.  Later he would fly the Marine Corps fastest fighter jets on reconnisance missions.  One particularly hairy time occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  The proof that Russia was setting up missile launch pads 90 miles from our shore was provided by these reconnisance missions.  They were very dangerous undertakings with at least one of our pilots being shot down.  When that happened, Bunny’s commander called him and said that he wanted photos of the area where the pilot went down.  Bunny said “OK, I’ll fly in at tree top level”.  His commander said, “No, I want you to fly at 35,000 feet”.  Bunny said, “I’ll be a sitting duck up there.” His Commander reiterated that he was to fly at 35,000 feet.   Bunny flew at 35,000 feet.

Next time, Bunny’s Grandfather Merlie.

The Adirondack Museum asked me to be an Artisan-in Residence to demonstrate making guideboat paddles.  So from Wednesday through Saturday of this week (August 22nd) I have been at the Marion River Pavilion at the Museum in Blue Mountain, NY.

Guideboat paddles had their origin in enabling guides to take their “sports” hunting.  The guide would be in the stern of the guideboat with his paddle and the sport in the bow with his rifle.  The usual method of propelling the boat, oars, was too noisy for hunting.  The guide and his sport usually set forth at night and prowled along the edges of marshes.  When they heard a deer splashing about the sport would light a candle lantern and “jack” the deer.  This practice was outlawed in NY State around 1900.

Later on, when the wealthy bought guideboats to use for pleasure, steering paddles began to be used.  These were shorter than guide’s paddles and were used as a rudder by the passenger who sat in the stern seat while the oarsman rowed from the bow.  You can learn more about these paddles and their history from my book “Guideboat Paddles An Adirondack Treasure”.

Below is a sign announcing my presence.  I am in the Marion River Pavillion at the Museum.

I have brought my latest guideboat and reproductions of guideboat paddles from the Museum’s collection.

The Marion River Carry is an historic pathway between Blue Mountain Lake and Raquette Lake. Below is some history about it.

Here is the original locomotive used on the Marion River carry.

Here are the train cars used on the Marion River Carry.

Inside the building on the left is a 3-D diorama where model steamers and trains move as the narrator tells the story of how an elaborate transportation system brought tourists to Raquette and Blue Mountain Lakes at the turn of the 20th century. It is very well done.

 

John Homer commented on the beautiful straps that were on my latest guideboat.  Indeed, when I looked at all the guideboats on exhibit at the Adirondack Museum I could find none that came even close to them in attractiveness.  Below is one of mine.

John wanted to find out where I got these great accessories for my boat.  I told him I had no idea since they were given to me by my neighbor, Diane, here in Long Lake.  Her husband, Dayton, was very fond of guideboats and planned to build two of them.  He started to acquire the things to do so, the fasteners, spruce roots, and horns and straps.  Sadly, before he could start building, cancer overtook him and his dream was never realized.  Diane, knowing I build this splendid craft, graciously gave me his trove of guideboat items.

John was disappointed that there was no known way to purchase the straps.  But that didn’t deter him. He said “I’ll cast my own if you lend me one of your straps”.  I thought “Wow, this is impressive.  Someone who can cast something like that”.

It turns out that John is a quite a creative guy who doesn’t shy away from a challenge like this.  He makes own hand tools like the ones below.

John lives in Watertown, which enables him to spend a lot of time in the Adirondacks.  He built his own guideboat which he races in the fall 90 miler.  He makes paddles including a custom paddle for the 90 miler.  We will talk about that another time.

So John researched the process for making a pattern of my strap that could then be used into cast a replica of it.  So here is what is involved.  First you need material to make a mold of the original strap.  You then use the mold to make a pattern that, in turn is used for making the actual casting.

Here is the silicon rubber molding material.

It comes in two parts that are mixed together.  Here is John mixing the molding material.

The strap is then securely fastened into a box that will contain the molding material.  Before doing that the holes in the strap that receive the pins are sealed with clay.

The next step is to pour the molding material into the box to cover the strap by at least an inch or so.

The molding material needs to cure for at least six hours.  John took the setup with him so that could cast some patterns during the coming week.  Here is the material he used to make the strap pattern.

Here is one of the patterns he gave me when he returned.  it is truly an exact reproduction of my strap.

John made these patterns of horns used with pinned oars using the same process.

The next step is construct a foundry to cast the straps using the proper alloy.  John has researched that as well.  In his travels he found that a mini-foundry could be made from a 5 gallon metal pail.  So perhaps by next summer that will be a reality and we can cast some straps.

In the meantime, I will be at the Adirondack Museum from this coming Wednesday, August 24th to Saturday, August 27th as an Artist-in-Residence.  I will be demonstrating making guideboat paddles and talking about the history of using them to hunt and for just cruising around.  Come and see me if you are around.

Next time: guideboat for sale.

 

 

Every summer the Northeast US states of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine take a census of the loons on their lakes.  It is always done on the same day and at the same time.  This year it was on July 16th from 8 am to 9 am.

I volunteered to take a section of Long Lake below the bridge.   I was given about a half mile square section near the cove where out camp is.  On the appointed day I awoke at 7 am to the call of a loon out on the lake. This will be a piece of cake I thought.  We had seen two loons hanging out around our cove for a number of days so I assumed they would be out front waiting for me.

I decided to use my guideboat to search for the loons.  It is quiet and unobtrusive and somehow it invokes the old way of doing things.  The morning was overcast with a strong, chilly breeze out of the west.  Here I am suited up with binoculars ready to cast off.

Here are the boundaries of my section.  The southern boundary is a rocky point just off our cove and the northern boundary is Great Camp Greatstone.

 

I was to take a line straight off these two landmarks to the far shore to define my search area.  Here is a view towards the north showing the conditions that day.

Well, I rowed around the area for an hour and nary a loon did I see.  Where were they?  Of course, the very next day they were both back as you can see.

The results of the census were pretty much what was reported over the last 5 years.  There were 11 loons counted, 4 below the bridge, and 7 north of the bridge.  As I recall, there were no loons seen below the bridge 10 years ago.  The area below the bridge is much more populated that that north of the bridge.  It is a much smaller area, about 3-4 miles long, compared to that north of the bridge, which is about 10 miles long.  Yet the loons don’t seem to mind the increased human activity; the motor boats, jet skis, kayakers and canoe parties.

Sometimes the loons carry on when one of Helm’s Aero Service float planes does a takeoff run down the lake. But it is probably just what Tom Helm’s says “Well, I drove off that big bird again”.  Sometimes they stop to yodel at Tom as he flies over and at other times I have seen them totally ignore the planes.  As the census shows they are obviously quite at home south of the bridge.

Helms Aero Service is certainly a landmark in Long Lake.  Tom’s father Herb founded it, with his brother Gib, in 1947.  Both Herb and Gib served in the European theater in World War II.  Herb flew 30 missions as a navigator on B-17’s while Gib was shot down and spent most of the War as a POW.

Tom joined his father as a pilot in 1972.  In nearly 70 years Helms Aero Service has never had an accident.  Here are some photos of the Helms enterprise.

One of the two Aero service planes is show below.

A Helms plane takes off down the lake.

One last anecdote.  The fellow who built our Long Lake camp, Greg Wallace, grew up in Long Lake.  He said that a sure sign of spring in Long Lake was the first time they heard one of Tom’s planes take-off.

Next time: John Homer pays a visit.

Last fall I reported on how beavers had set up shop in a bank under a tree next to our dock.  That was not a problem until they started winter preparations by bringing in saplings and brush to feed on during the winter.  This feed bed began to choke off our channel to the main lake.  Our son Robbie was able to clear away most of the debris by paddling around in our guideboat and snagging it with a grappling hook fashioned from an anchor.

The beavers were not deterred however.  As soon as we left in the fall they constructed a mammoth feed bed the almost totally blocked the channel.  When we returned in June, I was able to just squeak by it in my guideboat and row on the main lake.  While returning from on such voyage I suddenly found that  I was dragging a 15 foot long sapling.  It had somehow attached itself to the boat’s stern as I passed over the feed bed.

The source of the problem involved the stern stem band.  The two screws holding it to the base of the stem had corroded until they could no longer hold the band.  The loose band provided a “hook” that snagged the sapling.  Fortunately the band didn’t snap off while towing the sapling.  Here is a photo of the detached stem band.

Not wanting to take the time just then to properly repair the band I resorted to the time-tested emergency fix-duct tape.

Its embarrassing to row around with a duct tape repair on a guideboat you have built yourself.  So out came the boat and proper repairs were done.  It was simply done by replacing the two corroded screws.  It is no wonder they corroded.  The boat is in its 19th summer this year.

Now back to the beaver’s barricade.  Here I am standing on the entrance to their bank lodge.  The saplings I am holding are just like the one that caught on the stem band.

Our son Robbie was visiting for the July Fourth weekend so he was pressed into service again.  This time a boat wasn’t needed.  The lake water level was low enough so that an attack could be made on the feed bed from the shore.  Here he is casting out his anchor grappling hook in an attempt to snag some of the feed bed.

A successful attempt.

After many hours of hard work the is channel clear again.  Here is one pile of stuff dredged from the channel.  It is mainly Alder and thickets taken from the marshes near us.

Well done Rob.

Next time I go on a loon census via guideboat.

Now that the ribs are ready, the next step is to finish the stems.   I found a red spruce root that gave a nice flow of the grain down and inward along the stem pattern. This configuration will produce maximum strength in the stem, a vital structural member of a guideboat.  I cut out the rough outline of the stems from this over two-inch thick spruce root and then resawed it on the band saw to get two matching stems.  I took these down to one inch thick with my surface planer.  Some further work on the band saw got the stems pretty close to their final shape.  Then I gave them their final shape with hand tools; planes and spoke shaves.  Here I am shaping the inside of one of the stems.

The next step is to form the stem rabbet, or groove that runs the length of the stem.  It will receive the “hood” end of the plank.  The rabbet must be cut to the depth of the plank thickness.  It must also be cut at an angle to match that of the incoming plank as it approaches its final destination at the bow and stern of the boat.

To accomplish this bit of trickery I have two templates.  The first lays out the rabbet line, or leading edge of the rabbet.  The second lays out the trailing edge of the rabbet, or bearding line.

After marking the bearding line with a pencil, I clamp the rabbet template in place on  top of the stem stock.  It will guide my tool as I form the rabbet.  To form the rabbet I use a technique I learned when being taught how to carve song birds.  It is called “cut and undercut”.

The first step when doing cut and undercut is to cut a line perpendicular to the surface of the stem stock that follows the template.  Here I am doing this step using a utility knife.

Next, a chisel is used to cut away the excess to form the rabbet.

Here is another view.

You need to work the chisel sideways too.

This cut and undercut technique must be done several times until you get the proper depth and angle.  The depth is checked using a small piece of plank stock. One must be mindful of the bearding line too so that the rabbet angle is kept true.

As a final step I use my sanding board to smooth the rabbet.

Oops! Accidents do happen.  Somehow during shaping of the rabbet two chunks of material were torn out along one of the rabbet edges.  I was able to shape some small chips  of wood to fit into the voids and glue them in place.

Here is a finished rabbet.

The final step is to cut out a notch on the stem where it will receive the bottom board.  That is done easily on the band saw.

Here are the finished stems.

The finished stems weighed in at 1.9 lbs. each.  They will be even lighter when the boat is completed. By then they will be tapered to remove the blocky, unstreamlined shape they now have.  That is so that the builder can use a plumb line (or carpenter’s level) to get them plumb (at right angles) to the bottom board during the very early stages of set up on the builder’s gig.

What’s next?  We are about a month away from our return to Long Lake in the heart of the Adirondacks.  I have been working on shaping the bottom board but I’m running out of time to finish it before we leave.  My thought is to get the pair of oars for this boat roughed out and ready to work on up there.  Besides I have been asked to be an Artist-in-Residence at The Adirondack Museum from Wednesday, August 17 to Saturday August 2oth.  This would be a good project to work on at that event.  I will also be making guideboat paddles there too. So if you are in the area then drop by and say hi.

I’ll also be reporting on other items of interest to guideboat fans too.  There are bound to be some.

 

Chris Andrie’s comment on the origin of the Adirondack guideboat got me to thinking again about the origins of this iconic wooden boat.  He points out that bateaus were used as troop carriers during the Revolutionary War and during later wars.  Since thousands were built during these times many men learned at least rudimentary boat building skills.  These men could have turned that knowledge towards building other types of boats of similar construction, ie. a flat bottom with natural crooks used for frames or knees.  The guideboat was one of a family of boats using this construction.  Others include the wherry and the dory.

Great minds think alike, Chris.  Durant in his book, “The Adirondack Guideboat” and Stephenson in “Wooden Boat” make the link between guideboat and bateau.  Hallie Bond in her book “Boats and Boating in the Adirondacks” states on page 33 “Within two generations the bateau ancestor had inspired an even more refined boat. the Adirondack guideboat, which became essential to life in the interior of the mountains.”

Was this really the case or was something else at work here?  The bateau has straight sides, is double ended, and uses oak knees for its frames.  Its bottom is formed by laying planks crosswise rather than a single fore to aft plank, as in a guideboat’s bottom board.  Early guideboats had a rounded hull and possessed a stern transom.  The bateau/guideboat comparison reminds me of a dump truck and a Ferrari.   The evolution from bateau to guideboat could have occurred but I think it is unlikely.

A clue to where the idea for the small wooden craft known as a guideboat came from originated from my friend Rev. Bunny Austin’s family tree.  His family has lived in Long Lake for six generations.  Bunny and his father Merlie are/were accomplished guideboat builders.  When I asked where the first of his family to settle in Long Lake emigrated from he said “Ferrisburgh, Vt.” I didn’t think much about it at the time but then later I found it was on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain.

I also recall that Caleb Chase left his home in Ticonderoga, NY at the age of 16.  Caleb became one of the premier builders of guideboats in the Adirondacks.

This is a very small sample but is there something about the Lake Champlain region that would spawn the building of small wooden boats during the early 1800’s and before?  It turns out that I was quite ignorant of the role the Champlain Valley played in US history.  Anyone that controlled the Lake had access to the Hudson River and hence New York City.  So battles and skirmishes were held there during the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812.  The Battle of Plattsburg in 1814 opened my eyes to the scale of naval encounters on the Lake.  The British were intent on an invasion of New York state and brought troops and naval vessels into the Lake from the St. Lawrence River via the Richelieu River.  Their flagship was a 36 gun frigate, the Confiance which was supported by various other warships.  To counter the British, the Americans had the corvette USS Saratoga of 26 -guns and the 14-gun schooner Ticonderoga.  Only a few days before the battle they completed the brig USS eagle that sported 20 guns.

The Americans routed the land invasion force and defeated the British naval forces.  What is clear is that Lake Champlain was a maritime hub in the 18th and 19th centuries.  Shipbuilding of vessels of various sizes including tall ships went on there.  And tall ships needed smaller vessels to ferry men and supplies between the shore and their anchorage.  This must have meant a thriving economy of shipwrights and boat builders of all kinds.

This brings to mind a marvelous wooden craft called the Whitehall.  The Whitehall is a versatile small wooden craft that can be either rowed or sailed.  It evolved from the need for a water taxi in New York City in the mid- to late 1800’s to provide passage to and from the tall ships in the New York harbor.  In Massachusetts it provided the same service in the Boston Harbor.  Ship chandlers extended its use on Cape Cod.  They would wait at Provincetown until a Clipper ship was spotted on the horizon.  They would then jump into their Whitehall and set sail to intercept the arriving clipper.  There was often a race with other chandlers since the first to reach the new arrival would often get the business.

Like the guideboat, the origin of the Whitehall is unknown.  Necessity was the mother of invention. Apparently the two versions, Boston and New York,  differed in some way but no one knows just how.

My uncle and my son have both built these beautiful boats.  My uncle built the Elysea with boatbuilding friends who then donated it to the Mystic Maritime Museum’s collection.  On a visit to Mystic some years ago my son happened upon Uncle Don’s boat in the boat house there.  The boats there are for visitors to take out on loan.  Stew was told that Don’s boat goes out nearly every day and shows little sign of wear.  Here are two photos of the Elysea.

 

It seems to me that the small craft that evolved into the what we now call the Adirondack guideboat came from a particular “genius”.  This genius was totally conversant with small wooden craft and knew how to build them.  I’ll step out on a limb even further and say that he came from Vermont on the eastern shores of Lake Champlain or on its western shores of New York.  I like to think that he saw this view of the Adirondack High Peaks taken from the eastern shore of the Lake.

His curiosity was aroused.   When he heard that there were uncounted lakes and ponds there and that there was a great need for a boat builder there as well, he said “I’m outa here”.

Next time, back to guideboat building.

As you might recall, the last thing I did on my new guideboat was to “get out the ribs” from the “roots” or flitches.  I selected each flitch so that its grain  followed the contour of the rib pattern as best I could.  I then shaped  the hull side of each one so that it matched the rib pattern as closely as possible.  Now I must shape the inside of each of the fifty ribs that make up this boat.

I lay out the height of each rib, 3/4 of an inch, using a compass.  I cut away the excess using my band saw.  I then make final adjustments to the overall shape with a spoke shave.

The top surface of each rib is rounded off and the toe cut to the proper length.  I like to shape the toe to form a “bull nose”.  You can see the bull nose below.

I shape the bull nose running from left to right.  It is easier for a right-hander to do it that way.  You do want to be consistent each time you shape the bull nose.  Once you start either left-to-right or right-to-left don’t change amid stream.  Otherwise you will be unpleasantly surprised when you go to attach the ribs to the bottom board.

I use the following tools to round off the top of the ribs.

I use a Veratas spoke shave, a contour plane and my long board for sanding.  I don’t mark off where the rounding begins on each side but do it by eye.  You can mark it off with a compass it you like.

Here I am rounding off a rib.

Making the bull nose at the rib toe.

Finally  the ribs are all finished and on a rack for holding them.

I was careful to leave the ribs longer than their final dimension.  This is to accommodate any adjustments in the sheer line as the boat comes together.

I have always wondered how much weight each component of a guideboat contributed to its overall weight.  I decided that this time around I would find out.  I bought a small food scale for about $30 so I could weigh the ribs, stems and other such things.  Here is a set of four ribs on the scale.

I found the average weight of all fifty ribs in this boat weighed 2.5 oz!  I thought that was pretty extraordinary.  The total weight of all 50 ribs was 7.9 lbs.  This weight is on the high side since some of each rib will be cut off after the gunwale is installed.

I also checked the moisture content of the ribs.

Here I am using a moisture meter to measure the moisture content of a rib.  All ribs that I measured came in around 7%.  I had expected the moisture level to be higher since the flitches were all air dried.  They must have been dried for quite awhile.

I also wanted to see how well I did matching the contour of the ribs to the grain in the roots.  I took masking tape and marked off the grain direction a several points along each rib with a marker.  Below are the results.  The ribs are, right to left, number 0, number 8, and number 11.

As you can see the grain direction follows the rib contour quite well.  Only down near the rib heel does it not conform very well.  But this certainly shows how clever the early boat builders were in choosing spruce roots for the ribs of their boats.  Because the grain follows the rib contour, the ribs are exceptionally strong.  Not only that, but they are very light weight as well.

Next time I work on the stems.

 

 

The Adirondack guideboat was designed and built for hunting.  Wealthy “sports” from the eastern cities came to the Adirondack mountains to hunt and fish.  They expected their guide to take them to the “hot” fishing grounds and to find them a trophy buck or two.  The guideboat was the vehicle to take them on “safari”, much like the Land Rovers in Africa provided the means to hunt trophy animals.

So the guides were expected to lead a party of “greenhorns” on expedition into the wilderness for a week or longer.  Guides rowed the boat (and carried it when necessary), set up camp, cooked the meals, provided entertainment when required, and organized the hunting and fishing forays.  They did all of this for about $2 a day.

The pressure must have been enormous on the guides to satisfy their client’s quest for adventure.  The sports needed some proof to those back home that their tall tales were to be believed.  So the guides bent the rules of sportsmanship to satisfy the expectations of their “sportsmen”.

One hunting technique was apparently very popular.  It involved floating for deer from the guideboat at night.  Another name for floating for deer is jacking, or using a bright light to freeze the deer in the “headlights”, so to speak.  Here is a sketch by Davis done in 1868 for Harper’s Weekly of the practice of floating for deer.

At first the lantern was a crude one using a candle with a reflector of birch bark.  Later on various versions of oil lamps would be used including one fastened to a fireman’s helmet.  This gave the hunter a greater chance of success because the light penetrated deeper into the marsh.

Marshes provide wonderful feeding grounds for deer.  They will come to feed there in daylight but especially at night.  Note that the guide is using a paddle to propel the boat rather than oars.  Using oars would be too noisy for this method of hunting

Guides apparently took great pride in their ability to hunt from their boats at night.  Here is a photo of the famous North Country guide Reuben Cary and his party after a hunt the night before.  What has always intrigued me about this photo is that Reuben is holding his paddle while the others are brandishing their weapons. It is as if he is saying they would not have been successful if it were not for me and my boat and paddle.

Guide’s paddles are longer than canoe paddles.  Perhaps this is because guides could use them to pole the boat along in shallow water. Their paddles also had an interesting “motif” just below the grip.  The motif was unique to the paddle maker and took on various shapes.  One common feature of guideboat paddles is the round disk, or lollipop grip.  If you want to know more about them and some of the characters who used them you can check out my book “Guideboat Paddles An Adirondack Treasure”.

Another popular hunting method back then was hounding, or using one or more hounds to chase deer into a lake where the hunter awaited in his guideboat.  Here is a photo taken by Seneca Ray Stoddard of the results of such a hunt.  The giveaway for the hunting method is the hound in the guideboat.

Hounding and jacking for deer have long been outlawed in NY State.  However poachers are still caught using a spotlight to jack deer.  The practice is not common and is certainly frowned upon these days.

I always wondered if the sport ever assisted his guide by paddling from the stern seat.  In modern two man guideboat races the stern man paddles while the bow man rows.  They change place “on the fly” during the race to give each a change.  I finally found proof that, at least sometimes, the sport helped out.  Here is the photographic proof from Seneca Ray Stoddard.

Note that the guideboat is one made around the time when builders switched to double-ended boats. It has a beautiful wine glass stern and looks to have a lapstrake hull rather than a smooth skin. It was probably built around 1860 to 1880.

The view of the Adirondack high peaks in this photo is spectacular. I believe the mountain in the center is Nippletop.  Nippletop mountain is the thirteenth highest peak in the Adirondacks at 4620 feet high.  It takes a a 12.6 mile hike of 10 hours to reach it and return.

Next time: the ribs are finished.