TOM BYERS' DARK, DUSTY CANOE WORKSHOP IS CLUTTERED WITH EVERYTHING EXCEPT POWER TOOLS. The accomplished backwoods builder shapes immaculate birchbark craft by axe, knife, awl, and bit brace.

Although the birch-bark canoe today has been supplanted by wooden ... Like a bicyclist's patch kit, Ojibwe canoers always kept a small supply of pitch with them in the boat in case repairs ...

The canoe has an ancient history in North America, especially in the Great Lakes Region, where it was relied upon by Native Americans as an important means of transportation and survival. When the ...