Donald A. Windsor
Now that Dave Walker's dugout canoe has been identified as being a black ash log, it behooves us to try to determine whether the log was cut locally. Perhaps it was transported here from somewhere else.
Tom Knapp found this message in The Morning Sun 1893 February 10.
"Lumber I am prepared to furnish hemlock, black ash or spruce lumber to order. Orders may be left at my office in Norwich, or with Lewis brothers, sawyers, or Pharsalia, N. Y. Will C. Moulton"
This newsclip shows that black ash were being sold locally in the late 1800s, over a century and a half after the canoe was made in 1725. It seems possible that these black ash were harvested locally.
Black ash (Fraxinus nigra) is a native and still remains in Chenango County today, although it is uncommon. Even though it grows in wet areas, it does best where the water moves enough to be aerated. It is associated with American elm, red maple, balsam fir, black spruce, hemlock, yellow birch, alder, dogwood, willows, and blueberries. It is intolerant of shade; it requires full sun.
The record size for black ash is 87 feet tall and 58 inches (4 feet 10 inches) diameter at breast hight, for a tree in Ohio. A diameter of 12 to 24 inches is more common. Our canoe is about 24 inches across at its widest point, so it was made from a choice specimen.
This information is from: Silvics of North America. Volume 2 Hardwoods. Washington, DC: USDA Forest Service. 1990. Pages 344-347.
Here are some photos I took along the Chenango River at the Rogers Center on 24 May 2009.
Here are two photos I took at the Adams Farm on the same day. These trees grow in a seep that flows all year.
I still need a photo of the samaras.
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