Dakota birchbark canoe paddles

Titles: Dakota birchbark canoe paddles (Supplied title)

Description: Nineteenth century Dakota-made cedar canoe paddles.The canoe and paddles were given to Clifford J. Clarkson, ferryman at Mendota, in 1912. One paddle (A) has a flaring squared blade and a hand-rest, the other (B) has a long square blade. John Bluestone (Tukantoiciya), a Mdewakanton Dakota born in 1835, may have been living in Mendota when he made the associated birchbark canoe (ID Number 144). His son, Sam Bluestone (Herakamani), carved the cedar paddles.

Dates

• Uncertain 1880 - Not later than 1912 (Creation)
• Not earlier than 1912 - Not later than 1917 (C.J. Clarkson, a Mendota ferryman, was given the canoe and paddles in 1912 and donated them to the Sibley House Museum 1917.) (Use)

Creation

• maker: Bluestone, Samuel
• owned/used by: Clarkson, Clifford John
• about: Bluestone, John

Identifiers

• Inventory Number: 145.A,B

Credit: Minnesota Historical Society Collections, Gift of the Sibley House Association of the Minnesota Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Holding Type: 3D Objects

Quantity: 2 items

Format

• Content Category: artifacts

Measurements

• 26 1/2 inches length (145.A, flaring squared blade)
• 5 inches width (145.A, flaring squared blade)
• 1/2 inches depth (145.A, flaring squared blade)
• 32 1/4 inches length (145.A, shaft)
• 1 1/2 inches depth (145.A, shaft)
• 2 1/2 inches width (145.A, shaft end grip)
• 26 inches length (145.B, long square blade)
• 4 1/2 inches width (145.B, long square blade)
• 3/4 inches depth (145.B, long square blade)
• 41 inches length (145.B, shaft)
• 1 5/8 inches depth (145.B, shaft)

Subjects

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