DCHP-1 Online

light canoe Fur Trade, Hist.

• 1 See 1952 quote.

  • 1791  (1947)  . . . I consented to his departure, in consequence of which I made one light canoe serve us to come down.
  • 1804  (1897)  Payet arrived in a light canoe.
  • 1952  (1954)  In addition to these were the demi-canot, or half canoe, which might be twenty feet long and carried a crew of four to six, and the light canoe which ran from ten to fifteen feet long, and was generally used by the Indians to transport themselves and their families.

• 2 a fast light canoe (def. 1) used by the fur-traders for speedy delivery of officials, communications, correspondence, and special goods. Also light boat.

  See also: express canoe  light canoe (def. 1)  

  • a1855  (1956)  A light canoe . . . leaving the Pacific reaches Montreal in a hundred days . . . thus performing a journey of many thousand miles, without delay, stoppage, or scarcely any repose, in the short period of little more than six months.
  • 1798  (1964)  Mr. Thorburn set off . . . for the Grand Portage in a light Canoe.
  • 1807  (1930)  . . . it may go out to headquarters in the light canoe.
  • 1929  We were much disappointed not to see the "old boss," Chief Factor William Sinclair, aboard the light-boat.
  • 1931  Ordinarily, however, a "light canoe" was merely one dispatched without freight

• 3 a birchbark canoe 25 to 35 feet long, 5 to 6 feet wide, and 2 to 2½ feet deep, capable of carrying some 1½ to 2 tons of goods, a crew of 8 or 9, and 2 or 3 passengers, used primarily on the waterways north and west of Lake Superior.

  See also: North canoe  

  • 1828  (1872)  . . . the crews of two "Light Canoes," consisting of nine men each. . . .
  • 1872  Light Canoes--specially made and adapted for speediest travel . . . were generally known under the name of "North Canoes". . . .