Welcome to the expanded guide for the CWHC’s north gallery! Here you can find expanded descriptions of the artifacts included in our printed gallery guides!
Dugout Canoe: This birch bark canoe has a mysterious origin. It was discovered near Holland Centre in the early 1980s. It had been left along a trail where, according to some reports, it had been placed upside down so the flat underside could be used as a bridge or part of the trail.
The canoe’s exposure to the elements means that it is difficult to say how old the canoe is or what it looked like before it was worn down. Its shape suggests that it was a fairly rudimentary construction.
It is unclear who originally built the canoe. While indigenous nations like the Anishinaabe were better known for building birch bark canoes, but dugouts were not unheard of. There are also examples of dugout canoes built by the Haudenosaunee, who also lived in this region for a time.
One last possibility is that the canoe was built by European settlers. Rudimentary dugouts like this one are relatively simple to make as they mostly require hollowing out a log. Settlers who needed a boat but lacked the tools or skills for a complex build were occasionally known to build boats like this one.
Birch Bark Canoe: This birch bark canoe once belonged to the artist Paul Roderick (1915-1983). He had a studio near Leith and spent time in the area. Many of his works depicted nature scenes. He may have inherited some of his interest in the outdoors, as his father was the artist Franz Johnston, who was notable for being a member of the Group of Seven.
The exact age and origin of the canoe is unknown. If it was commissioned by Paul himself, it would likely have been built in the early-mid 1900s. It may have been built by Anishinaabe canoe builders, but we don’t know if it was built nearby or transported to this area.
At some point, the canoe was left in a local storage unit. After Paul Roderick died in 1983 and payments stopped for the storage unit, ownership of the contents moved to the storage company, who donated the canoe to the new Marine & Rail Museum.
High Frequency Direction Finder: A specialized radio antenna designed to determine the direction of a radio signal. High frequency direction finders were nicknamed “Huff Duffs” because of their abbreviated name, “HF/DF.” Some also called them “egg beaters” because of the shape of the antenna.
Huff-Duffs work by taking readings from multiple antennae. This made them faster than older systems which required lengthy signals to produce results.
HF/DF antennae became common fixtures on naval ships in WWII, when they were primarily used to determine the direction of enemy radio signals. This capability was crucial for the ships escorting convoys across the Atlantic Ocean, as it allowed them to locate U-boats before they could strike.
This project was made possible by a grant from Community Foundation Grey Bruce
