The evolution of canoes probably took place among the people somewhat northward of Puget Sound peoples, whose general level of culture is higher. Going southward from the Kwakiutl, say, canoes are steadily less and less specialized, until we come to the tribes of northern California with their one model. South of the California tribes just mentioned, these influences are not apparent at all. Concerning the canoes of the coast north of the Kwakiutl, we can get at the present time no information. It is not known whether several types are in use, or only one. The pictures of Curtis, which might tell the story, are not nearly so useful as they are in other cases, since he photographed very few canoes in this area; possibly because he found so much else to picture.
The situation as regards canoes in the area under discussion may be essentially like that respecting types of pottery in the Southwest, as presented by Nelson.[24] He has shown in a most interesting way that the archaic types of pottery are also the types with the widest distribution. As we pass from center to periphery of the cultural region which he discusses, we encounter types of pottery which are more and more primitive. One striking difference between Nelso1’s problem and the present one is that a great mass of evidence has been assembled in the Southwest, while in regard to canoes on the Northwest coast the data are largely lacking. Another difference is that Nelson carried out extensive investigations in the field, while the present discussion is based largely on scattered references in the literature. Nelso1’s conclusions, to be brief, are based on knowledge and facts, while our own must be in the last degree inferential.
The idea seems plausible, however, that the original type of canoe on the Northwest coast was the shovel-nose. Several considerations point in this direction. The shovel-nose is the simplest model. This raises a logical presumption that it may well be the oldest. It is associated with rivers, being of use only in streams and other quiet water. This also suggests that it may represent an early type. It may be regarded as certain that the first man or the first group who experimented with navigation on the North Pacific coast, experimented on the rivers, and not on the high seas. This would seem to imply that the river craft would be the first to reach perfection. The sea-going “Chinook” type, and models showing points of similarity to it, are in all human probability later in origin. When we consider the distribution of the various types of canoes, we emerge for a moment from the jungle of speculation into the field of evidence, though that evidence is scanty. It is a fact that the shovel-nose type of canoe is of wider distribution than the other types. It is the only type found in the marginal regions to the east and south of the area of typical North Pacific Coast culture. Thus is raised the presumption that it represents an older type of craft than do the other models.