Kootenay Bark Canoes

The Kootenay and some of their Salish neighbours in the southern interior of British Columbia built a very distinctive bark boat, often referred to as the "sturgeon-nose" or "ram-shaped" canoe. These names derive from the extension of the keel line into end "rams", a feature that is thought by some to keep out water in rapid rivers and big lakes. The Kootenay canoe was framed with narrow, well-spaced battens, some of which were lashed to the ribs.

Kootenay "sturgeon-nose" canoe. From the western margins of the range of the paper birch, this canoe is covered with a combination of pine and birch bark Main builders: Mr. and Mrs. Frank Basil Creston, British Columbia, 1959 CMC II-A-170

kayaks |  umiaks |  bark canoes |  dugout canoes exhibition photos |  conservation |  bibliography |  other WWW resources credits