Minnesota Canoe Museum highlighting three canoes with historical significance

ELY, Minn. – As with collections of classic cars and motorcycles, fine design, materials and visual appeal matter to the central players of the Minnesota Canoe Museum in this Northwoods city. But museum organizers have a special eye for canoes that have been somewhere and done something. If those gunwales could talk, they'd gush streams of back-stories, adventures with paddlers, and details of craftsmanship.

Museum founder Fletcher Freeman said that considering Ely is labeled the Canoe Capital of the World, a canoe museum in Ely is only appropriate. The organization's vision includes showcasing historic birch bark, wood-canvas and cedar-strip canoes. Beyond make-model-year information, plans feature canoe-related exhibits like a paddle gallery, a canoe-building shop and a focus on the influence of indigenous cultures. A hall of fame would honor renowned guides, outfitters, paddlers and builders.

Though the nonprofit organization was incorporated in 2008, a permanent facility is in the planning stages. However, organizers recently partnered with the Ely Folk School to display a sampling of their collection. The museum also offers tours to Ely-area businesses and organizations that house other vintage canoes.

The display canoes are revolving, and a database is being developed containing a list of canoes and their owners for possible future exhibition. For more information, contact Freeman at 1-218-365-6816.

Here is an overview of three canoes on display with stories to tell:

Detroit to Moscow

Tony Lenzini from Toledo, Ohio, and Dan Roberts from Novi, Mich., attempted a 6,000-mile canoe trip from Detroit through the Soviet Union, beginning in May 1979. Their goal was to arrive in time for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The journey would have taken them across the northern Great Lakes, Canada's Northwest Passage and into Alaska where they planned to winter before crossing the Bering Strait to the Soviet Union. According to a New York Times report from 1979, they had gotten permission from Tass, the Soviet government news agency, to travel on Soviet waterways.

However, the two men fell from a 30-foot cliff Up North at Grand Portage and were severely injured. After a week of recovery, Lenzini started off again on his own. But he got caught in a thunderstorm on Lake of the Woods and his canoe sunk with all of his gear. He swam a mile to shore and hitched a 50-mile ride to International Falls.

He later returned to Ohio, tried to regroup and raise more funds in another attempt to reach his goal. But all was for naught when the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Olympics.

The canoe's skin is made of laminated plastic, aka Royalex, manufactured by the Uniroyal Corporation.

Mando Paper Company racer

The Mando Paper Company was founded by lumber baron Edward Wellington Backus in International Falls during the early 1900s. Among his exploits, Backus tried to use his financial influence to develop a massive industrial project in the region. He proposed building a series of seven hydroelectric dams in the Rainy Lake watershed, which eventually became part of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. However, his efforts were strongly opposed by environmentalists like Sigurd Olson, and most significantly, by his Rainy Lake neighbor Ernest Oberholtzer. Congress eventually rejected his plan.

The Mando racing canoe was built by the Peterborough Canoe Co. in Ontario, Canada. It's constructed of cedar ribs, ash gunwales and painted canvas to keep it watertight. The canoe's design makes it fast, but it's not good for recreational use because it's deep and tippy.

According to the canoe's current owner, Duane Bieber, the Mando Paper Company sponsored racers in canoe competitions. The late Harvey Andersen from Mankato was a strapping canoeist and the canoe's previous owner who paddled it in long-distance races. Andersen's canoe-racing credits included the Paul Bunyan Aquatennial Canoe Derby from Bemidji to Minneapolis in the 1940s. He was also well-known as owner/operator of Mankato's ski hill, Ski Haven, aka Mount Kato.

Arrowhead Journey

The Arrowhead Journey birch bark canoe made a 1,000-mile voyage around the perimeter of the Arrowhead in 2009. It was handcrafted by Erik Simula who paddled it on Lake Superior from Grand Portage to Duluth, the Mississippi River, the Canadian border and back to Lake Superior.

During this four-month journey with his dog, Kitigan, he encountered a mix of adversity and deeply moving moments.

Simula recalled finding a dead bald eagle floating on Rainy River.

They spotted a large black bear, 10 feet away, on the shore of the lower Big Fork River. In backing away, the birch bark canoe hit a submerged rock, cracked its pitch seams and opened a serious leak.

Though the canoe performed well in rough seas, high, choppy waves at the Aerial Lift Bridge in Duluth caused the canoe to take on water through openings in its cover. A concerned bystander called for emergency help and the Duluth Fire Department responded. The ordeal made headlines.

The harder times were tempered by the likes of otters on Rainy River lunging 6 feet out from the bank and plunging six feet down apparently for the sheer fun of diving into water, Simula said.

Scott Stowell is a freelance writer and photographer from Ely. He can be reached at scottstowell09@gmail.com.