Canoe Race Near Sault Ste. Marie

George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872 · 1836-1837

“. . . one of their favourite amusements at this place, which I was lucky enough to witness a few miles below the Sault, when high bettings had been made, and a great concourse of Indians had assembled to witness an Indian regatta; or canoe race, which went off with great excitement, firing of guns, yelping, &c. The Indians in this vicinity are all Chippeways, and their canoes all made of birch bark, and chiefly of one model; they are exceedingly light, as I have before described, and propelled with wonderful velocity.” George Catlin sketched this scene during a journey to the Pipestone Quarry (in present-day Minnesota) in 1836. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 54, 1841; reprint 1973)