The Stradivarius Of Canoes, Built In St. Lawrence County

Part of the museum attached to the Silas Wright House was an exhibit of the legendary canoe building skills of John Henry Rushton, born in 1843. A small man of 98 pounds, he set up Dragonfly Canoe Works in Canton in 1875. His canoes and other small boats achieved world renown, even being called the "Stradivarius of canoes:"

I was able to see this canoe up close, so I walked over to inspect it:

I was surprised to see that it was constructed largely of what looked to me like clapboards fitted ever so tightly together:

And when I looked at the underside, I saw the boards were hand nailed with what must surely have been thousands of nails:

I believe, though I'm not sure, that this Rushton creation was called a Rob Roy decked canoe:

A photo of George Washington Sears, who wrote about his adventures and travels in "Forest And Stream" under the name of Nessmuk. Rushton built a series of canoes for him and, in turn, earned acclaim as a master builder:

Rushton's son, Harry, outside their boat shop in Canton. The canoe was a model called "Indian Girl" which became very popular:

The employees of the Rushton Boat Shop in 1904. Rushton died in 1906:

The man himself, in 1884:

At a camp on Cranberry Lake about 1891. The two young boys were Rushton's sons:

Another shot of Carter's Camp on Cranberry Lake, with John Henry Rushton, his wife and two sons:

The Rushton St. Lawrence Canoe Club in 1886, on an island in the St. Lawrence River. This was all a part of history about which I'd known nothing and it was nice to learn a bit of St. Lawrence history: