Canoes are the most common type of boat used by Indians. Long and narrow, with generally rounded bottoms and no keel, they taper toward the bow and stern. They are generally propelled by paddles or by poling.
North American Indians made two basic types of canoes. In the eastern woodlands and along the Pacific Coast, they crafted dugouts made from large logs that had been hollowed out and shaped by steam. In the subarctic and Arctic, as well as on the plateau and in the northern portions of the eastern woodlands, native people built wooden frames for their canoes and covered them with bark or animal hides. Eastern Indians generally covered their canoes with birch or elm bark. In the West and in the Arctic, canoe builders used animal hides, such as caribou, moose, and walrus, to cover the frames. Both types of canoes ranged in size from small boats eight to ten feet long, designed to carry one to three people, to much larger boats capable of carrying more than forty people.
Canoes were used everywhere in North America except in the arid regions of the Great Plains, the Great Basin, the Southwest, and the interior of California. They provided an efficient means of transportation in areas that abounded with streams and lakes and along the coasts. Their shape and relatively shallow draft made them easy to navigate. Frame canoes were also lightweight and easy to portage between streams and rivers. Even smaller canoes could carry up to a ton of cargo and be navigated by a single person. The large dugout canoes in the East and on the Pacific Coast could sail in the open sea and were sometimes used to hunt whales, as well as for trading and warfare.
As they became heavily involved in the European fur trade, many northeastern tribes replaced their heavy dugouts with lighter, more easily navigable frame canoes. By the late nineteenth century, most Eastern Indians had ceased using canoes, except in parts of the Northeast, the upper Great Lakes, Florida, and parts of Louisiana. Today, native canoe building is largely confined to the subarctic, the upper Great Lakes, and the Northeast. Elsewhere, canoes have been replaced by manufactured boats and other modern forms of transportation.
