SPREADING THE CANOE

Giclée print on archival paper in lignin and acid free paper  14” X 20”

Masterfully designed canoes of many sizes and forms were made on the Northwest Coast by carving from solid logs.  Usually these were of western redcedar, but in some areas Sitka spruce or cottonwood were used.  Typically these boats were widened beyond the original diameter of the log by the spreading of the steam-softened sides.  Spreading does more than widen the canoe; it introduces major changes of form throughout the hull which the canoe maker must anticipate in carving the log.  The straight and level gunwales bend smoothly out and down, while the ends rise, forming a graceful sheer and transforming a rigidly narrow, hollow trough into an elegant watercraft.

In order to spread without splitting, the walls of the hull are made remarkably thin (just over one inch in the 63-foot Northern canoe in the American Museum of Natural History, for example).  When the hull is completely carved, water is poured into it (to a depth of 6 inches or so) and is heated to boiling with red-hot rocks.  The resulting steam is confined by covering the open hull with mats.  The hot rocks are replaced as needed to keep the water at a boil..  The softened sides, heated through by the steam inside and fires outside, begin to move outward, aided by the weight of the water and rocks pressing down in the center.  Spreading sticks are tapped into place between the gunwales and are moved toward the ends and increased in length in the center as the sides flare outward.  When the planned beam and form are reached, the canoe is allowed to cool, the water is removed, and the thwarts, bow and stern blocks, and gunwale caps are fitted and fastened in place.  Large traveling and war canoes were often painted with designs associated with the names of the canoes or the crests of their owners.

Here, a medium-size Haida canoe is just reaching its finished width; one last load of hot tocks helps to soften the hull thoroughly.  As the covering mat is lifted, steam rolls up, partly obscuring the big plank houses with their massive frontal poles on the bank above the beach.  Haida canoe makers were widely respected and their products were in demand throughout the northern Northwest Coast.  Perhaps this canoe is destined to b taken across Hecate Strait to be traded at the Nass River for eulachon grease, mountain sheep horns, or other mainland products not available on the Queen Charlotte Islands.