Leelanau School navigates history and water

By Ashlea Turner
Sun contributor
If you’re out on Lake Michigan, Lake Superior or maybe even the St. Lawrence Seaway in the near future, you might just witness history repeat herself. The Leelanau School’s replica of a 16th-century Voyageur Canoe might just speed right past you in its 33 feet of cedar glory.

Since October, the Leelanau School students, led by faculty member Michael Jarvis, have been spending afternoons, evenings and weekends building ‘the boat,’ as it is affectionately called. ‘But the boat’ is truly an unassuming name for this magnificent piece of craftsmanship. The canoe is made of hundreds of cedar strips and fiberglass and weighs a mere 350 pounds. The canoe is much more than pure craftsmanship, however, because it serves as a hands-on learning tool, combining the study of New World history with stapling, sanding and glueing.
Speaking of history, here’s a quick refresher for you:
The Hudson Bay Company created the original Voyageur Canoe in the 16th century for use as a trade vessel. The original canoes were made of birch bark and leaked incessantly, making any journey arduous. The HBC, including both the French Canadians and the Native Americans, traveled from Montreal, Canada through the St Lawrence Seaway, along the perimeter of Lake Superior all the way to its western edge. In a canoe!
The HBC, nicknamed “Here Before Christ” because of its arguable infamy as the oldest company, arrived at the destination with a canoe full of trade goods. They would then swap these goods for various furs and canoe back east to Montreal. Other adventurous people navigated the smaller waterways to the Rocky Mountains with shorter and therefore, more maneuverable, canoes of about 24-26 feet.
Testing the limits of their own canoe was one part of the Leelanau School students’ learning experience. At the end of the school year, the whole student body congregated to test the canoe for the first time on Little Glen Lake, as a proud, smiling crew launched the Voyager under clear skies. The launch was met with jubilant cheers from the whole school. “It really floats!” was a common response from the often-skeptical teenagers. “It’s so big!” was another popular comment from both faculty and students. Most people, however, were simply left in a speechless awe at such a beautiful and inspiring site.
Although the Crystal River runs through the school’s campus, the canoe is too large to navigate the intricate twists and turns of its home waterway. So where do the students and faculty canoe from here? Michael Jarvis, the father of the boat project, believes that the possibilities for adventure and learning are endless. A trip to South Manitou Island from Sleeping Bear Point, only about six miles, is definitely on the horizon. Watch out, Manitou Island Transit, you might have some competition!
Longer and more challenging trips are also being planned as students continue to learn how to use the canoe. The Senior Class of 2004 might take it to the eastern edge of Lake Superior in October to navigate those historically alive waters. But Jarvis has even bigger plans for his prized craft. He would love to take a month or so in the summer and “island hop” from the Manitou Islands to the Fox Islands and further north, possibly ending up at Mackinac Island for some more Michigan History. Michael also sees no reason why Leelanau students can’t trace the HBC’s tracks all the way back to Montreal.
For more information on the canoe’s upcoming navigations, call 1-800-Leelanau. Bon Voyage!