Odyssey of a Rangeley Rowing Canoe
Or The Long Road Home
By Brand Livingstone
I worked for a paper mill in Groveton, NH for many years but lived in the next town 10 miles south called Lancaster. The commute each day brought me by a house, near the road, where I noticed two old hulks of wooden canoes turned over against the side of a garage. Now I’ve been a “boater” all my life, mostly in Down East, ME, and my attention is always drawn to anything that looks like a boat. especially when what I see is a different boat and an older boat.
A traditional wooden boat person I am, and the proud possessor of a wooden 14foot rowboat made by two old boat builders, the Whalen boys, down on the St. Croix River in Calais, ME about 1930. It was built without the use of power tools, as they didn’t have any power, being a mile away from the main road at that time. They used to build schooners in their day but in near retirement they built what they pleased and designed their own. The row boat is built in the shape of a coastal schooner but rows and sails well and I have spent hundreds of hours camping. exploring and rowing this safe old boat, now 65 years old. It is heavy but when you stop pulling the momentum will carry you another tour or five boat lengths, and it holds its course when going into the wind on the quarter, with a little more effort on the leeward oar.
Just before I retired from the mill and moved to Calais, my curiosity got the better of me and I stopped one day at the now vacant house with the two old boats still by the garage. What I saw was discouraging. The outer boat was badly wracked with many broken planks and ribs, beyond hope. But the second boat, although the stems were bad and some planks missing, pretty much held its shape. At least this canoe looked like it might be saved and it looked like a classic. Mind you. I bring no experience to this obvious lake fishing boat of about 17 feet, although as a kid I spent many happy hours in a 1 7foot wooden, canvascovered canoe on Mystic Lake in Winchester, MA. My eyes were looking at a grey colored, lapstraked, long, rugged work boat.
With my sympathy for the preserving of what was old and obviously built with skilled hands, I found out the house owner’s name, Glenn Grant, and he offered to sell me two Rangeley rowboats for $30 “as is.” I went home and got my checkbook and trailer and with a smile on his face I loaded both of them and trailed them to Lancaster. When my wife saw the reality of my purchase she questioned both my vision and my sanity. But I was convinced that in my retirement in Maine I would he able to make one good canoe from the two.
So after retirement in 1977 I cut the second canoe into workable sections with my chain saw. nested the pieces in the “good” canoe and made ready for the trek to Maine. I had not known the meaning of ”Rangeley Rowing Canoe” when I bought them, but there was a nameplate still on the bow deck of the good one and it said, “H. N.. ELLIS BUILDER RANGELEY, MAINE.” This aroused my curiosity, but I was much too busy then to investigate the boat’s origin. I knew the boat was made in Maine and I was moving there, so maybe I could follow my instincts when I had more time available. So of f we moved to Maine with oneandahalf rowing canoes behind us.
On arrival, 300 miles later, they were covered and put behind the barn to await my free time. Well, the place that we moved into was an 1825 family home that needed a lot of work and I did not have time to work on the canoes, so after eight years had passed from the date of their purchase, I felt something must be done or I should dispose of them. I remembered the smile on the face of the man who sold them to me and felt a nudge that maybe he was right. but my determination died hard.
In early 1981 I read an article in Wooden Boat Magazine, Edition 39, by Paul McGuire titled “The Rangeley Tradition,” and it was here that I learned about Herbert Ellis, Rangeley Canoe builder in Rangeley, ME. The name on my bow plate read H.N. Ellis, Builder. This article gave his whole canoe building history, starting with his apprenticeship with Charles W. Barrett and his final purchase of the boat shop when Barrett was too sick to carry on. There they build double ended sportsman’s canoes for the sporting camps around the Rangeley Lakes.
The ones I had bought were both doubleenders, which made them of’ early manufacture because after WW 11 and the coming of small outboard motors, fishermen and guides wanted the square stern models to act to the fishing holes f aster. So it looked like mine might have predated those models. No wonder they were in tough shape, they were probably circa 1940, and now 44yearold, overworked, fishing canoes.
My interest aroused again with this new knowledge of my canoes’ origin and now realizing that the skills needed to rejuvenate my boat were beyond my assessment of what was needed, I began casting about to find a local person who could do the job. The name Jim Hanna came to me from a source I do not remember, so after a phone call, I paid him a visit over in Marshfield, ME, not far from Machias.
Jim was building his own line of’ canoes and wanagans (a practical, canoeshaped carrier to fit inside your canoe) and also did repair work. After his visit to my barn to observe the scope of the project of restoration, he became enthusiastic about the project and allowed as how he could do it. So off went the two hulks again on their round about trip to their destiny. How often in life one thing (or person) is sacrificed so that another can carry on. Well, this was the case here, and Jim thought he could get enough material from the sacrificed hull to replace the missing or rotten parts of the best hull. In my opinion, this takes more skill than building new and although Jim was a relatively young man, I had the feeling from looking at his work that he could do the job of restoration.
Time and money proved me right. He began the work in March, repairing both stems, bending several new ribs, replacing some planking. refastening where needed, scraping and painting with original colors. On April 4, 1984, and $1,()37 dollars later, I took delivery and trailered my new Rangeley rowing canoe home to Calais.
At this point I still didn’t have any means of propulsion, no oars. A 200mile trip to Shaw & Tenney in Orono, ME bought a beautiful, light, pair of 71 /2 foot spruce oars (seconds) with leathers attached, horn rowlocks, two pairs of angle mounts (for the two rowing positions) for $80.85. So for $1,147.85, plus mileage, I had a genuine maritime antique ready to row, in almost new condition. I wondered if Glenn Grant, who sold me the hulks. would smile again if he could see the ntradition we had preserved, for surely there are not many of these old double ender rowing canoes still floating.
John Gardner, in his hook, Building Classic Small Craft, lamented in 1977, “Unfortunately, today’s limited demand for Rangeley pulling boats is not enough to support professional builders. The old boats are fast falling into disrepair or wearing out completely, and there are no replacements.” He took the lines of an Ellis boat that has been reproduced since in some shops in New England, the Midwest and California, which proves some public support f or this type of canoe that handles so well for traditional fishermen.
Now I was ready for my first trial on the St. Croix River in front of my house. We have 24foot tides here so timing is all important. The launching down my boat ramp at almost high tide was easily done from the trailer, and with great expectation and a hailing can I pushed off into the currents on a lovely late April day Yes there was a little leakage expected hut any boat properly caulked would soon swell up once in the water. Placing the oars in their oarlocks and from the middle seat, taking the first stroke turned the canoe smoothly and quickly and forced it ahead at surprising speed on a very straight course. What a delight to row with so little resistance and so much carry whether into the wind or broadside.
As the wind came up and made a chop from the opposing tide the 1 7foot Rangeley rode across the top of the waves and did not pitch or take on water. It would be a dry boat and a fast one. The breadth or midship width of 46 inches gives stability and comfort to the rower. One could row many miles. even against the tides, and not be fatigued. Although designed and developed for the Rangeley Lakes conditions, which can be quite rough at times with summer storms, this craft performs admirably on salt water estuaries where tidal, windy conditions are frequent. The forward seating position provides balance when taking a passenger and the original back rest provides ample comfort.
In June my two sons and daughter and their spouses and children (six) planned a family camping trip to a campground at Lake Cupsuptic, a few miles northwest of Rangeley and Rangeley Lake, so all plans were made for them to bring their three canoes and I to trailer my Rangeley “back home.” I had a vague but intense desire, while there, to see if I could locate the maker of my boat. Herb Ellis. After inquires made in the town of Rangeley, I got directions to his house with the knowledge that he was not too well these days but would probably be able to talk with me. I pulled in off Route 16, with trailer and canoe attached, to his driveway and introduced myself and my mission.
Herb and his son were home and came out on the porch where he could look at the restoration of one of his boats with his name on the bow. He was pleased at the work we had done and said he could date the boat as being made in 1940 because that was the year they stopped using oval iron seat braces, flattened to bolt to the seat and sides because of the scarcity of metal due to the war effort. He also identified the 16″ pine stool seats as being an early design that had to be changed due to the expense and scarcity of wide pine. So the old boat had come full circle and she was back home in good condition ready for another 50 years or so.
I don’t use it as much as I should as I’ve been doing a lot of sailing these last few years. but when I get so I can’t handle the jib sheets and anchor any more, I will still be on the water in my old friend, the Rangeley, bucking the waves and currents on the way to a fishing spot or just for the pure joy of rowing this traditional, versatile boat.
