Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Canoe |
Date |
1888-1888 |
Artist |
A. Bain & Company |
Maker |
A. Bain & Co., Clayton, NY |
Subjects |
boats and boating canoes Long Lake Raquette Lake |
Material |
Wood |
Used |
Raquette Lake and Long Lake |
Description |
Strip-built open paddling canoe with yoke. Built by A. Bain & Co., 1888. Length: 11'11", Beam: 28 3/4" Weight: 40 lbs A. Bain & Company operated in Clayton from 1885-1896. While Peterborough canoe builders are the best-known nineteenth-century users of strip planking, but other builders experimented with it, too. A. Bain & Co. differed from the Peterborough builders in that they used planks that were hollowed on one edge and rounded on the other. After the planks were fitted together they were edge-fastened. Another builder who used this technique was Harry Green (1833-1903). The noted New York physician Arpad Gerster used this boat for solo trips through the Adirondacks from bases at his camps on Raquette Lake and Long Lake. He took to the waterways alone to avoid the "annoyance...suffered through the impatience of the guides, who were always in a `stew' to reach the next hotel on the route, where `grub' was awaiting them." His kit included a tent of raw China Silk and a fly made by David Abercrombie, a pair of Jaeger blankets, an air pillow, a two-pound ax, a sheath knife, a rifle, and a cooking kit of aluminum. "In 1888 aluminum was a precious metal; but, undaunted, I ordered a nest of four kettles, the largest one holding two quarts. They cost $12.00, but were worth the price," he reported.* Gerster's canoe also came with a set of floorboards and a yoke into which he carved, in Latin, the legend "Leve fit quad bene fertur onus, 1887" translated as: "It is light because it is well borne" or "it becomes a light weight that is carried well." Also the ID for a dried bit of what could be leather. labeled as "Part of Paddle". located CSM06A04. NTA |
Notes |
see Arpad Gerster, Recollections of a New York Surgeon, 172. Piece of paddle- MSW14A04 |
Dimensions |
W-2.396 L-11.077 feet |
Collection |
BBB120 |
People |
Gerster, Arpad Geyza |
Search Terms |
boats and boating canoes Long Lake Raquette Lake |
Catalog Number |
1956.061.0003A |
Other number |
AM 2564, cat. 17 |
Imagefile |
051\1956.061.0003A COLOR.JPG |
Species |
Canoe |
Owned by |
Gerster, Arpad |
Credit line |
Gift of Dr. John C.A. Gerster |