In researching Book 2 of “The Chronicles of an Unlikely Voyageur,” I learned a classmate, Bob Davis, was the great-nephew of Bill Hafeman, founder of Hafeman Boat Works in Bigfork, MN. Hafeman began building canoes in the 1920s. Bob’s wife Diane alerted me to a great YouTube piece about the current business.
In recent years, the business was taken over by Ray Boessel, Jr., married to Hafeman’s granddaughter Christy. Their son Dan posted this video (16:03). Ray said gathering the materials takes most of the 80 hours he needs to complete a canoe. Once they are in hand, the actual constructing takes about 24 hours.
paddle shapes
Hafeman, he said, discovered that asphalt worked better than spruce gum to seal the seams—it didn’t need to be replaced each season because it was too soft and melting (too much tallow) or too hard and cracking (too much charcoal). Now Boessel uses polyurethane, the only non-natural element in the entire canoe.
They also show 3 different paddles—the beaver tail and the otter tail and a variable speed paddle. In a 37-foot Montreal canoe, the avant’s steering paddle could be as long as 8 feet. The avant set the pace—everyone’s paddle stroke precisely matched his.
As a youth, my classmate Bob was tasked with providing Hafeman with spruce root, called wattap, which was used to sew large birch bark pieces together and also to sew the canoe to the gunwales and frame.
Bob also told me about a booklet, “Builder of Birch Bark Canoes,” published in 1970 about his great-uncle.
Bill Hafeman, Builder of Birch Bark Canoes
Thank you for sharing this, Nikki. I visited the boat works as a child. In fact, I still have one of those booklets from 1970. I have been coming to North Star Lake (first Idlewild, now North Star Lake Resort) for over 50 years. Am up now with my son. We hope to get by the boat works while we are here.
I want to get back there too. Hafeman was a visionary to work on building canoes the old way when EVERYTHING in the culture then focused on newer or faster. The Ojibwe faced (and still do) serious discrimination. I’m delighted that you had a chance to see the old boat works and his birch bark canoes.
In the summer of 2021 I visited Hafeman Boatworks with two cousins and our wives. Ray Boessel gave us a long tour of his workshop. At the end of the tour I was so impressed with the work he did that I bought his 5′ model Ojibwe longnose canoe. We had flown into MN, so we couldn’t bring it home. One of my cousins stored the canoe until this summer when we picked it up and brought it home to Seattle. I feel that it’s important that the history of the bark canoe be carried on. My other cousin owns a full size Boessel canoe which I have paddled. Ray is a humble master of his craft.
I felt the same way when I visited the shop. I also bought a 5 footer and continually admire the workmanship.