Making Canoes, Then and Now

Making Canoes, Then and Now. . "I deturmined to have two Canoes made out of the largest of those trees and lash them together which will cause them to be Study (sturdy)..." - William Clark, July 20, 1806 , After traveling by horseback over 100 miles in five days, Clark finally found cottonwood trees large enough for building canoes. , The Corps had plenty of experience making canoes since they had already made 13, eight of those out of cottonwood. Probably, five Corps members spent most of the three days carving the two dugouts, which were smaller that the previous ones. Although only three axes were mentioned, the Expdediton began with two adzes, files and rasps, chisels, four drawing knives, gimlets, one saw-set, two hand-saws, two hatchets, and augers, all of which were acquired specifically for the task at hand. , BLM staff at the Pillar worked about 200 house using a chain saw and a pulaski to build these replicas. The trees were felled in June 1916 and were so waterlogged that they had to let them finish draining before the sawing could continue. Each tree weighed more than 6,000 pounds, too heavy for even a large forklift to move.