Chestnut Canoe Company was established in Fredericton in the Canadian province of New Brunswick at the end of the 19th century and became one of the pre-eminent producers of wood-and-canvas canoes. The company closed in 1979.
Chestnut Canoe Company was established in Fredericton in the Canadian province of New Brunswick at the end of the 19th century and became one of the pre-eminent producers of wood-and-canvas canoes. The company closed in 1979.
By the end of the nineteenth century, wealthy American "sports" had discovered the New Brunswick wilderness and arrived via the Saint John River in the Maine-built wood-canvas canoes of B.N. Morris, E.M. White, and E.H. Gerrish.[1] Brothers William and Henry Chestnut, inheritors of their father's hardware business, became aware of the interest in canvas-covered canoes but knew importing them from the United States would substantially increase price due to import duties.[1] The Chestnut brothers hired boatbuilder Jack J. Moore to build a replica of a Morris canoe.[2] Early Chestnut canoes clearly show the influence of the Morris.[3]
When Chestnut's business increased to the degree that additional experienced builders were required, William Chestnut ventured to Maine and aggressively recruited men from the Old Town factory. Old Town responded by filing a lawsuit and threatened to set up a factory of their own in Canada.[2]
We hereby warn anyone in Canada against using our construction![4]
In 1905, Chestnut was granted a patent for the process of building the wood-canvas canoe, despite the fact that the process had been in use for more than thirty years. In 1909, they filed suit against the Peterborough Canoe Company for patent infringement, but the suit was dismissed.[5] Eventually, the Chestnut Canoe Company and Peterborough Canoe Company merged under the holding company Canadian Watercraft Limited. Canadian Canoe Company joined them in 1927. All three companies maintained separate identities after the merger, while marketing nearly identical lines of canvas canoes. It is often said that Chestnut was responsible for the canvas canoe production for all three companies.[6]
The Chestnut Company left Fredericton, moving to a new factory in Oromocto, New Brunswick in 1974.[7] The factory closed for good in 1978, shipping their last canoe in December of that year. The company had intended to produce 300 Special Edition Indian Maiden canoes, but only a prototype and two other canoes were made. On September 12, 1978, the Chestnut plant in Oromocto, New Brunswick was closed and all 55 employees laid off. The last canoe, numbered 2 of 300 was sold to William Miller in Windsor, Ontario at the Canadian National Exhibition and was constructed after the plant had actually closed when he sent additional funds to have it completed. Most of the Chestnut molds survive and are being used in several wooden canoe shops in Canada.[8] Swift Canoe in Ontario bought some of the molds and made Chestnut tribute canoes, including the Prospector model.
