Chestnut Canoes in Algonquin Park

[Murat V]

Just realized that the following Chestnut Catalogue (circa 1971) features photos from Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park. The cover shows the "Portage Store" building in the background. This was (and still is) the starting point for many trippers heading into the park interior.

Here is a B&W shot from the Algonquin Park archives of the same building from 1974:

One of the pages in the catalog shows some canoeists in an aluminium Chestnut "MINK" waving to a large tour boat in the background.

This was the "Miss Algonquin Park", a diesel powered vessel that offered a 16 mile tour of the lake running 5-6 times a day! Apparently 1973 was the last year it ran after complaints of environmental damage and pollution. Canoe lake is the most crowded lake in the park even today. Can't imagine how nuts it would have been with this tour boat cruising around!

Anyway, a neat little bit of Chestnut & Algonquin Park history.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Very interesting history and old photos. Thanks.

One of the pages in the catalog shows some canoeists in an aluminium Chestnut "MINK" waving to a large tour boat in the background.

I never knew Chestnut offered aluminum canoes. Isn't that un-Canadian or perhaps even immoral? I wonder who manufactured them for Chestnut. THIS CATALOG (likely 1973) shows three models of aluminum canoe: The Mink, Lynx and Otter.



I wonder what it means, aluminically, that the Lynx and Otter have "lapstrake" sides. Marketing BS?

 

[Murat V]

I wonder who manufactured them for Chestnut.

Not sure if Chestnut outsourced to more than one manufacturer. I once came across one of their aluminum canoes that was stamped with a Hull Identification Number. The code identified the maker as Harber Manufacturing Ltd. in Fort Erie, Ontario. Just like the catalog images, it had one of the larger vinyl decals Chestnut produced for their motorboat line on the side of the hull.