Quapaw Canoe Company

Tenas Leloo “Little Wolf” & Chinook Tahmahnawis

The George Lagergren Chinook dugout canoes Tenas Leloo “Little Wolf” & Chinook Tahmahnawis “Chinook Spirit” are visiting Mississippi until June 2007. Thanks to our wonderful Mississippi Library Association and The Mississippi Humanities Council - they won’t be lonely in the Magnolia State. They will return home with stories of the Deep South and our people (it being the Chinook belief that canoes talk to each other and share adventures from their travel!)

Go visit them when they are in your neighborhood (schedule below). They are user friendly! Please talk to them and feel their shapes! Good for kids (and the kids in all of us)!

Tenas Leloo & Chinook Tahmahnawis

Details:

Tenas Leloo “Little Wolf”

Western Red Cedar
Length: 11’ 2”
Width (at beam): 19”
Head Height (prow): 22”
Tail Height (stern: 15”
Weight: 85 pounds

Chinook Tahmahnawis

Western Red Cedar
Length: 16’
Width (at beam): 21”
Head Height (prow): 32”
Tail Height (stern: 24”
Weight: 175 pounds

They are the work of Chinook elder & master canoe builder George Lagergren, age 84, resident of Wilapa Bay, Washington State. Both are carved in the Chinook tradition with a Wolf Head prow and a triangular tail (stern), both ends are slotted interior with a deep groove (for balancing your whaling harpoon), and painted in the traditional Chinook coloring, red & black. Each is accompanied with a panel of interpretive text and a traditional Chinook Paddle (fashioned from Yellow Cedar).

They do not like being left in the dark! These dugout canoes have strong personalities and a story to tell: the Chinook story! The people who sustained Lewis & Clark through the winter of 1805/06. They crave love & attention, especially from children and young adults. The Chinook Tahmahnawis lies firmly on the floor, the Tenas Leloo sits on a short, stable cradle. They travel together to keep each other company.

In April 2007 I will retrieve the canoes and prepare them for their return journey in June 2007 to the Columbia River Valley (During the entire month of May Quapaw Canoe Company will conduct a Dugout Canoe Carving Workshop with the Chinook Tahmahnawis and two other dugouts – public invited).

Here follows some scenes from their journey:

Clarksdale
Carnegie Public Library

Local caretakers: the Mighty Quapaws

Leaving Quapaw Canoe Company:
Goodbye Wanbli Dancing Eagle!
Goodbye Mato Chante!

On the “Blues Highway”
Highway Sixty-One

1st half of January - Tunica
R.C Irwin Library

Tunica Library

Tunica - Appreciative patrons

Tunica Librarian Lynn Shurden
With Mighty Quapaws

Mhoon landing - Baptism in the
Mighty Mississippi

Greeting Wanbli Bald Eagle
(nest in background)

Take the “Chevy to the Levee”

Montezuma Landing

Taveling past thousands of Snow Geese

2nd half of January - Hattiesburg
Library of Hattiesburg

Hattiesburg Library

Children’s Librarian Shellie Zeigler-Hill

Chinook Tahmahnawis nosing his way
past the Hattiesburg Library

Mississippi Piney Woods

February - Guatier
Gulf Coast Community College
Jackson County Campus Library

Arriving at the Gulf of Mexico
Ocean Springs

First Swim in the Gulf!

Hurricane Katrina Damage
(US90 Bridge missing in background)

The bridge is gone, but the Live Oaks are still standing!

Personal escort into the Jackson County Library
Gulf Coast Community College

Dr. Pamela Ladner & Staff

PLEASE STAY TUNED!
MORE PHOTOS TO COME AS THE JOURNEY CONTINUES!

NEXT STOP:

February 26-28 – Port Gibson
Harriette Person Library

AND THEN:

March 1 - Vicksburg
Highway 61 Coffeeshop

March - Horn Lake
M. R. Dye Public Library

First half of April - Olive Branch
B. J. Chain Public Library

Second half of April – Hernando
Hernando Public Library

May – back in Clarksdale
To be prepared for their journey back to the Pacific Northwest
Quapaw Canoe Company
Canoe Carving Workshop – y’all are invited!

Carving Workshop

During the entire months of April & May (when we’re not on the river) we will be conducting a 2-month long CANOE CARVING WORKSHOP to refinish, restore, and prepare four dugout canoes for their journey across America – and three others, seven dugout canoes total – and guess what? You are invited to join us! Place: Quapaw Canoe Company Carving Shed on the banks of the Sunflower River in downtown Clarksdale. Have you ever wanted to get the feel of Western Red Cedar as it curls out of your hand plane in fragrant spirals? Have you ever wanted to get the feel of razor sharp sculptor’s adzes in raw Ponderosa Pine? Have you ever wanted to do some detail carving in wood? And then paint the finished carving? Have you ever wanted to steam and spread the sides of a wooden canoe? Come join us for as many days as your schedule allows! We will be glad to have your assistance, and the canoes will be even happier for your attention. If you don’t have experience, we will teach you. If you are experienced, your talents will be welcomed. Bring your carving tools or we will supply. We have carvers coming from Oregon, Washington State, Colorado, and St. Louis. Wherever you call home, you are invited to come join in the fun (and hard work!). Canoes to be restored: 23 foot Wanbli River Dancer (Western Red Cedar); 27 Foot Mato Chante (Ponderosa Pine); 16 foot Chinook Tahmanahwis (Western Red Cedar); 11 foot Tenas Leloo (Western Red Cedar); 17 foot Water Ram (Cottonwood); 17 foot King Beaver (Sweet Gum); 13 foot Froggie Loggie (Sycamore).