Annual International Water Festival held (now called Penn Cove Water Festival) each May. Hundreds of visitors come to the festival to see the bronzed crews stroke their narrow boats along the course. In these races Washington tribes, including Lummi, Queets, Suquamish, Puyallup, and even Yakamas from east of the mountains, compete with the Haidas, their ancient enemies from British Columbia. It is said that, when the races were initiated, the Native Americans had to be taught by tribal craftsmen how to fashion the slim Chinook canoe, which old-time sailors declare to be the best native seagoing craft in the world. The method of manufacture was the same from southeastern Alaska to the Columbia River. Expert canoe makers chose a cedar tree as nearly flawless as possible, felled it with obsidian axes called pe-yah-cuds, and dragged it to a convenient place. The head canoe maker or tyee, scored the bark; his helpers trimmed the branches and peeled the trunks. Slowly, carefully, the hull was shaped; red-hot rocks were employed to burn out the interior. The hull roughly formed, the tyee went over it inch by inch, chipping and smoothing until the finished craft would trim properly in the water. Many hulls were preserved against warping and checking by charring every surface, but the favored practice was to apply several coats of dogfish-liver oil, hand-rubbing the surface after each application until a glossy polish was secured. However malodorous, the process insured long preservation, for canoes more than 100 years old are still staunch and seaworthy. Extreme nicety was needed in placing the thwarts, or seats: these were inserted before the hull had become thoroughly seasoned, producing a slight flare along the rail. Too little spread reduced seaworthiness, but too much might split the wood. Both canoes and paddles were ornamented with various pigments. Iron stain was brown or yellow, copper stain was green, pounded ragweed pods yielded a bright red; soot mixed in oil gave black, and talc from lime-rock deposits made an acceptable white. Even the 50- to 60-foot war canoe was carved from a single cedar. The earliest canoes were not shapely, but after acquaintance with Bedford whalers, the canoe makers quickly imitated the pudgy prows of the Gloucester vessels. Practically all canoes built within the last 75 years show the influence of the clipper with its curving bow and low bowsprit. Racing canoes, built for a steersman and 10 paddlers, were of narrower beam than war canoes and of somewhat lower freeboard.
