![\"Shovelnose](\"https:\/\/www.sahs-fncc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/DSCN2285Indiancanoecropt600.jpg\")
<\/a>Shovelnose Indian canoe on a special truck for returning the canoe upriver for the last time.<\/p><\/div>\n
This flat bottom canoe sleekly moved across shallow waters up and down the Stillaguamish River in the late 1800s and early 1900s. \u00a0It had been found in the river possibly\u00a0lost, sunken or washed away by a flood and was\u00a0“rescued” by local resident in the 1960s. It was purchased by\u00a0Mike and Penny Buse in an estate sale in the 1990s. Since then it was held at the Stanwood Area Historical Society, occasionally seen by visitors who had an interest, but mostly in storage. \u00a0 The canoe is 28 feet long and about 26 inches at the mid gunwale. \u00a0It was made before 1900 with a few improvements, repairs as well as cracks but no recent modernizations. \u00a0It is an important cultural artifact to the Stillaguamish people who were people of the river as their name suggests. \u00a0Men and women used these canoe to carry belongings up and down river highway for their own transportation needs as well as for new settlers coming into the Stillaguamish Valley.<\/p>\n We are happy that it has finally found its way home.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nToday, Oct 26th, 2015 Shawn Yanity accepted the return of the canoe\u00a0from the Stanwood Area Historical Society for his people. \u00a0It will be be on display soon at the Tribal Administration building. \u00a0He told a story remembering observing how\u00a0swiftly\u00a0a woman of his tribe was able to navigate the canoe – one of the last perhaps who had such a skill.<\/p>\n