Chattooga Quarterly
Summer 2004
Rare Chattooga Canoe Recovered Part 2
The recovery crew encounters a “speed bump” while moving the canoe over a rapid. Photo courtesy Butch Clay.
On March 24th the “exploratory meeting” was held at the Andrew Pickens Ranger Station. The district ranger welcomed the participants and then turned the meeting over to Dr. Amer. Amer stated clearly that the canoe could be very unique since he had no knowledge of a similar find this far up the Savannah River watershed. He went on to say that the state of South Carolina claimed ownership of the canoe given its proximity to the South Carolina shore. Dr. Amer also informed the group that the state had very little money for a potentially expensive recovery. He suggested a cooperative recovery with the Forest Service playing a partnership role. We then visited the site and took extensive measurements of the canoe. It was at this point that I got to know Peter and hear the story of his find. His unwavering dedication to recovering the canoe would be indispensable in the days to come.
Upon returning to the conference room, it was suggested that the Chattooga Conservancy coordinate and organize the recovery under the supervision of Dr. Amer of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, with the Forest Service in a support role. This was the chance I had been waiting for. With an official agreement in place and the Chattooga Conservancy in the lead we were free to expedite the operation.
We set a deadline to have the canoe out of the river in one month. Paul Burris of the Forest Service played a key role in soliciting a letter from the local museum that was interested in the canoe as a display, assuring the state that they had the funds and proper facilities to preserve and display the canoe. A special receiving tank was constructed at the museum to temporarily store the canoe submerged in polyethylene glycol, a chemical used to stabilize and preserve wood. Kent Wiggington, who owns a boat dock construction company, generously agreed to construct the “cradle” for the canoe extraction, which we designed using the specifications given to us by Dr. Amer. All labor and materials were donated. I began organizing the extraction team of river guides with experience in working with swift water rescue. As luck would have it, Mark Fischer, a good friend and counselor with the Cherokee Creek Boys School, agreed to organize a crew of students to carry the extraction cradle to the site via the Bartram Trail.
Operations began immediately as we hiked people to the site, took more extensive measurements of the canoe, and contacted the media. But the biggest problem still remained unsolved was how to get the canoe out? At first we tried to get the Forest Service to donate a helicopter for an airlift, but when we learned that it would cost two thousand dollars an hour for the chopper this option was eliminated. The Forest Service offered to bulldoze a road to the site but this option was rejected unanimously by the working group. I found it unsettling that we had to point out their obligation to minimize the use of mechanized equipment in a National Wild and Scenic River corridor. After much deliberation we decided to attempt to carry the canoe out the Bartram Trail.
This was shaping up to be a huge endeavor. Would it be physically possible to carry the canoe and cradle out the narrow trail across two narrow bridges and tight switch backs? We contacted the Mathematics Department at Clemson University for help in estimating the weight of the canoe and cradle. A freshmen math class constructed a model of the canoe from measurements. The model was then submerged in water and its volume was calculated by a displacement value and multiplied by the theoretical weight per cubic foot of water saturated “heart pine.” The result was staggering. When this weight was added to the weight of the cradle (375 pounds) the total weight turned out to be almost 1700 pounds. This would be almost impossible.
We interviewed Peter and his friends and asked how they had initially managed to drag such a heavy object up on the beach? Peter assured us that the boat would not be that heavy based on their experience with the canoe. We decided to just go for it and hope the math students had overestimated the weight.
We put people on 48 hour notice to be ready to make the attempt on May 1st. The Cherokee Boys School kids and other volunteers struggled carrying the cradle down the Bartram Trail the day before the extraction. When we arrived at the site Kent, and I sat by the river and puzzled over the dilemma. As we sat looking up the river towards Earls Ford I said to Kent, “I changed my mind, we’re going to have to float this thing up river.” Kent, a veteran river man whose judgment I greatly value, responded matter of factly, “I was wondering when you would reach that conclusion.”
Now the plan was complete. I slept on the beach that night. The weather had changed and it began to rain. Our cut off for the operation was based on water level and things were looking dicey.
Early the next morning old friends from around the community began showing up for the main event. We padded the bottom of the cradle with closed cell foam material that had been donated by Watermark, Inc. and submerged the cradle in the shallow water above the canoe. The Cherokee Creek Boys had the honor of excavating the canoe the day before, so it was easy to float the canoe into the cradle. Soon we had enough people to manhandle the cradle and canoe back up onto the sandbar near the shore, where it was padded and cam-strapped. The media was arriving in droves and the work of positioning the flotation under the canoe had to be carefully balanced with talking to TV and newspaper crews. The rain was steadily falling but not heavy enough to threaten the operation. Our hearts sank as we heaved the contraption out in the water and it listed heavily to one side. It would be too dangerous to take the canoe up through rapids with the possibility of capsizing the cradle. 
Onlookers said the recovery operation looked like a freight train moving up the river. Photo courtesy Butch Clay. Fortunately Kent had some extra flotation back up at the parking lot. Two volunteers made the trek back out along the old logging road and towed the new and bigger flotation down to the river. Once the new flotation was under the cradle we organized the river crew along the sides and out in front with tow lines. Finally the signal was given and the crew charged upriver. What people witnessed that day was one of the most amazing river operations of its kind ever to occur on the Chattooga River. Those who tried to keep up along the shore described it as what looked like a freight train going up river. We were greeted by a host of spectators and media at Earls Ford with a loud cheer. The crew had negotiated about a mile of swift current and rapids by swimming, pushing, and hauling the canoe and cradle in less than one hour. After a short respite, the canoe, which turned out to be a total of about 1000 pounds, was carried up to the parking lot and loaded onto a lowboy trailer where it was doused with water to keep it from drying out on the way to the Oconee Heritage Museum in Walhalla, South Carolina. Once at the museum it was slowly and ever so carefully lifted and submerged in the holding tank filled with water. That evening the canoe recovery was featured on the evening news in Greenville and Atlanta. The next morning the operation was headline news in local and regional newspapers.
State archaeologists are scheduled to visit the Oconee Heritage Center this summer to go over the old canoe and look for clues to determine if it is Native American or European in origin, and to begin the preservation process by replacing the water with the chemical preservative.
The canoe will be on permanent display in Walhalla in a few months. What had begun as essentially a bureaucratic snarl over an operation that normally cost tens of thousands of dollars was effectively accomplished for a mere few hundred dollars and a community that came together to volunteer their time, money and considerable effort to protect and preserve their own invaluable cultural heritage. The old dugout canoe has been declared by prominent archaeologists as a one of a kind discovery. The Chattooga Conservancy is grateful to have been of service in coordinating the recovery of such a valuable find. The real credit, though, should be given to all the people who cared enough to donate the tremendous time and effort to the recovery. Special recognition is due to Peter Peteet, the man who took a closer look and went the extra mile.