Trade Sign
Object
2025.5.1
Business Sign
Wooden sign painted beige with “Fletcher Canoes” painted in brown, above a silhouette of a canoe paddler in a blue lake with pine trees in the background.
The original sign for Paul Fletcher's canoe business at Lake Laberge, Yukon.
Fletcher Canoes was a company established by Paul Fletcher in 1984 on the shores of Lake Labarge, specifically near Deep Creek. Fletcher had previously worked for Studebaker as well as MacDonald Douglas Aircraft, and combined his industrial-experiences in welding and woodworking there with traditional indigenous shaping, particularly from the Mikmaw in Maritime Canada, to make canoes.
Around the same time of his company's founding, paddling-guru Bill Mason was visiting Whitehorse and he was convinced by Fletcher to inspect his first canoe. At 17.5 feet long, 38 inches wide, and 15 inches deep, this canoe was agile yet safe, impressing Mason enough that he returned a second time to handle Fletcher's craft. Fletcher requested permission to put Mason's name on it, which was assented, but with the condition it be specified as the "Bill Mason 'Heavy Duty' Special."
Otherwise, Fletcher additionally created a smaller model for soloists or groups of two, with 15 feet of length, 35 inches width, and 15 inches depth. This one was marketed under the name "Fletcher's Fancy."
Paul Fletcher expressed a wish to retire in 1991, but the business was taken over by his niece, Thelma Cameron, and together with her husband and son, Randy and Michael, they mastered Paul's techniques and kept the business alive until Randy's death in 2021 and Thelma's retirement in summer the next year. Despite Thelma's hopes to pass the business to one of their grandchildren, none had interest, so Fletcher's canoes finally closed its doors that year, leaving behind a legacy of highly-regarded canoes across the Yukon Territory
Around the same time of his company's founding, paddling-guru Bill Mason was visiting Whitehorse and he was convinced by Fletcher to inspect his first canoe. At 17.5 feet long, 38 inches wide, and 15 inches deep, this canoe was agile yet safe, impressing Mason enough that he returned a second time to handle Fletcher's craft. Fletcher requested permission to put Mason's name on it, which was assented, but with the condition it be specified as the "Bill Mason 'Heavy Duty' Special."
Otherwise, Fletcher additionally created a smaller model for soloists or groups of two, with 15 feet of length, 35 inches width, and 15 inches depth. This one was marketed under the name "Fletcher's Fancy."
Paul Fletcher expressed a wish to retire in 1991, but the business was taken over by his niece, Thelma Cameron, and together with her husband and son, Randy and Michael, they mastered Paul's techniques and kept the business alive until Randy's death in 2021 and Thelma's retirement in summer the next year. Despite Thelma's hopes to pass the business to one of their grandchildren, none had interest, so Fletcher's canoes finally closed its doors that year, leaving behind a legacy of highly-regarded canoes across the Yukon Territory