These are consistent sizes with what we would expect from a canoe from this period and this region. The canoe has a length of 13 feet and a beam of 33 inches. Both are upstream from Montreal, with Ondanak on the Saint-Francois River tributary. Another source lists his winter home as near Sorel, Quebec. The local newspaper lists his home as Ondanak, Quebec. If the 1928 date is correct, the canoe was built during the summer that Wasamimet, a big man at 230 pounds, was struck by a car and suffered a broken leg. Although Wasamimet apparently built many boats during his career, the ADKX boat is the only survivor known, according to researchers working on Abenaki history in the 2000s. Photographs taken of Wasamimet late in life, standing next to another canoe and in his work area, are consistent with this interpretation. The notes remark that the style, and this boat, uses iron fastenings, 'less turn-up at the ends,' less decoration, and often less attention to fairness in the hull. The style is called a hybrid Algonquin-Abenaki-Ojibway one, correctly, which is consistent with the other holdings in the collection and not uncommon for the time period.

The date of construction is listed as 'around 1928.' It notes that he used cotton fabric, presumably at the seams, in addition to the traditional black pitch. The file says Wasamimet was a friend of the Rockefeller family and that he also maintained the boat for them. The Mohawks, if Mohawk he was, were not known for their canoe building, so it is possible that Wasamimet learned the craft from Abenaki builders in the region.Įmmett built the canoe for Anna and Avery Rockefeller for use on Ampersand Lake. His work was carried out near Hiawatha Lodge near Stony Creek Ponds. At least one source called him an Abenaki guide who also went by the name of Daniel Wasamimet. He was an active builder at the camp from 1910 until his death 'in the early 1950s.' The notes mention that Wasamimet was a Mohawk tribal member from the Caughnawaga Reservation near Montreal, Canada. Emmett (real name: Wasamimet), who built canoes, sweetgrass baskets and pack baskets to sell to summer residents and vacationers at Corey’s Road at the southern tip of Upper Saranac Lake. The notes attribute the boat to a Native American builder named 'Indian Dan' J. This could be due to the relatively late accession date (1990) compared to the other canoes in the holdings. The accession notes for #1990.053.0001 are among the most extensive notes in the museum files. Wasamimet, a friend of the family, maintained the boat, using patches of cotton fabric in addition to more traditional pitch.

This canoe was built for Anna and Avery Rockefeller and was used only on Ampersand Lake for paddling. The new style is characterized by iron fastenings, less turn-up at the ends, less decoration, and often less attention to fairness in the hull than is found in traditional craft. Wasamimet built this canoe in a hybrid Algonquin-Abenaki-Ojibwe style that had become common by the early twentieth century due to the influence of canoe manufacture for the white market. The aboriginal Mohawks were not traditionally birchbark canoe builders they took up canoe building in the eighteenth century after moving into the St. Wasamimet was a Mohawk from the Caughnawaga (also Caughnawauga) Reservation near Montreal. Built by Dan 'Emmett' Wasamimet, Coreys, NY about 1928Įvery summer from around 1910 until near his death in 1953 'Indian Dan' Wasamimet (aka Dan Emmett) camped at Corey's, making birchbark canoes, sweetgrass baskets and packbaskets to sell to the summer residents.

Ojibwe style canoe