Grand River Canoe Festival 2013

"It is strange that all my ailments vanish as soon as I seat myself in a canoe."

~ Sir George Simpson, Governor, Hudson's Bay Company, quoted by John S. Galbraith in The Beaver.

"A really good paddle should come alive in your hands and put a smile on your face."

~ Ray Kettlewell, master paddle-maker, characteristic remark, Canoe Expo, Etobicoke, Ont., April 8, 1994.

"God first created the canoe and then thought up the ideal country to go with it."

~ Attributed to paddler Bill Mason by Donna Carter in "Peterborough Canoe Museum Makes a Big Splash,"  The Globe and Mail, Nov. 16, 1991.

[Tomorrow:  Canadian writer, Pierre Berton's comments on canoes.]

Quotations from John Robert Colombo's FAMOUS LASTING WORDS, Douglas & McIntyre, 2000.