John Henry Rushton Canoes

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 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 the past about which I'd known nothing, and it was nice to learn a bit of St. Lawrence history:

A Busy Two Day Visit

My sister visited for two days this year and both days saw a lot of rain. So we decided to do some indoor activities, such as visit the St. Lawrence County Museum in Canton, New York. We began in the John Rushton room. Mr. Rushton built "The Stradivarius Of Canoes" in Canton from 1875 to 1906:

And the museum included the Silas Wright House. He was a governor and senator in the early 1800s:

It was interesting to see how the wealthy lived in the early 1800s:

Upstairs, I remembered from my previous visit, was an entire room filled with hand sewn quilts from the 1800s:

When we left the museum, we took a brief driving tour of the incredibly pleasant village of Canton and then to Days Mill Road in Nicholville. It was there that the rain ended and we saw this lovely rainbow:

It was one of the broadest rainbows I've ever seen, and arching over the autumn leaves added to the dramatic effect:

We also wrestled no-longer-so-little Rosella, tying her between two posts and putting an ID tag in her ear. I took this photo just after we'd finished and Rosella was still a little dazed, wondering what had just happened:

And we checked out the two day old fantail pigeon:

Here's a close-up. Truly a face which only a mother could love:

We fed apples to the cows:

And we took this photo of the St. Regis River in Nicholville:


The next morning, I went out to do the chores and found the eastern sky lit up with pink and gold. Vees of geese honked by overhead. We were planning a hike for day two, but I'll post about that tomorrow:

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: