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Placin' Mason in the CCM
By GWYNETH HOYLE
On the evening of June 17, the most famous red canoe in Canada became part of the world-wide collection of water-craft held by the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough. This is the canvas-covered Chestnut Prospector, the favourite canoe of Bill Mason, writer, film-maker, artist and passionate canoeist whose work endeared him to people everywhere who love canoes and wilderness. Mason, with his trade-mark white beard, red checkered shirt and wide-brimmed hat used this particular canoe in many of the photographs in his popular instructional books, The Path of the Paddle and The Song of the Paddle, as well as in his movies, including his final epic, Waterwalker.
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Bill Mason paddling in front of Cascade Falls in Pukaskwa Park on Lake Superior.
(photo: (c) Bill Mason Productions)
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Growing up near the shores of Lake Winnipeg, Bill Mason was born with a love of canoes that grew stronger throughout his life. Trained as an artist, he was introduced to film-making by drawing animation for films. In the beginning, his canoe was the means to go on week-end camping trips and to explore farther afield during the summer. Gradually canoes began to appear in any work he was doing and when he reached the level of planning and directing films, canoes became central to his themes. Canoes gave him the freedom to be part of nature in all its aspects, from the wild waters to the silent places. Writing books and making movies were his way of sharing this sense of freedom and joy in the natural world.
While Bill Mason eventually owned a fleet of canoes, the red Prospector built by the Chestnut Company in Fredericton and bought in 1973, came closest to his ideal of the aboriginal birch-bark canoe. With its sweeping bow and rockered keel, it responded to the lightest touch of the paddle and in his own words "was the most versatile canoe ever made". Even though its outer skin was thin canvas, he used it in rapids and on month-long solo camping trips on the north shore of Lake Superior to paint, or just to drift peacefully with a family member on Meech Lake near his home in the Gatineau Hills. It was more than a vehicle to him, it was a subject, a symbol and a friend.
Since his death in 1988, the Chestnut Prospector has been used only on rare and special occasions by his family. Most recently it was used by his daughter Becky and her husband, Reid MacLachlan, to demonstrate paddle strokes at the Heritage Canoe Festival in Peterborough early in May. Concerned that the treasured canoe would deteriorate on their outdoor storage racks, and wanting to share this treasure with the Canadian public, the Mason family decided to donate it to the Canadian Canoe Museum. They presented it, along with items of his camping gear, including the open-fronted Baker tent that Bill made famous in his writing, at a special gala evening entitled The Grande Fur Trade Rendezvous.
Since the beginning of March there has been feverish activity behind the scenes at the Museum as the staff planned and constructed entirely new exhibits. While previously only one floor was in use, the Museum has now expanded to the second floor, doubling its exhibition space. Those who attended the gala evening previewed the Museum's new look, with its special emphasis on the historic Fur Trade in Canada. Interpreters in traditional voyageur costume were in attendance at each exhibit, and there was live voyageur music, entertainment and hors d'oeuvres to match the theme. An auction of art and other desirable items generated much excitement during the evening, capped off by the door prize draw for an all-expense paid Caribbean holiday for two. For more information about the museum and its new exhibits, please call (705) 748-9153.
Gwyneth Hoyle is a member of the Canadian Canoe Museum Board of Trustees and northern author.
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