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Provincial Archives of New Brunswick

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Reference number: P5-381
Fonds/Collection
TAYLOR, GEORGE: PHOTOGRAPHS

Description
Maliseets building birch bark canoe at reserve on north side of St. John River just below Fredericton Bridge. Whittling the stick is Edward Paul. His brother, James Paul, who survived him by a few years, was the last man who understood canoe making on this part of the river. There was little incentive, and a lot of work to make canoes. First, a suitable birch tree had to be found, cut and the bark peeled, and often hauled 20 miles home. There is as much woodwork about a birch bark canoe as there is in a canvas canoe and as much trouble to make one. When the beautiful little crafts were finished, prices were seldom over five dollars. Canvas canoes made their appearance about 1900 and that just about finished birch bark canoe building on this river.

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