Among the more interesting relics around the Rochester Canoe Club (besides ancient mariners) is an old cannon, a miniature replica of the type used on sailing warships in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is on wheels, as those cannons were to allow them to be moved around, and to absorb the recoil when they were fired. Our cannon has a brass barrel and can fire a blank shotgun shell, and was used to start races from the shore in the 1930's. Presently, it is used as the Challenge Trophy, awarded to the RCC Thistle sailor with the 2nd best record at a series of away regattas. The trophy itself is a challenge, as it is very heavy, and who wants a loose cannon in their car after an awards banquet?

Nobody knows how the club got this cannon, or its history, or even how old it is. It can be seen sitting on a dock in an 1891 photo of the club's second clubhouse taken on the occasion of our 10th anniversary. That was when the 30 Ft. war canoe Huff was built for the club by Capt. George Ruggles, and the club reputedly whooped it up around the Bay in this canoe with the cannon.

What is especially intriguing is an inscription on the barrel which appears to be Indian: Oui-ste-a-sko-ak. This could have something to do with our founder and noted writer of local Indian lore, George H. Harris, who was nicknamed The Pathfinder by the Senecas because of his search for old trails. One anecdote says that he received a birchbark canoe as a gift from the Tuscarora Indians for helping them with treaties. It would seem that Indian resources in the area might provide an interpretation of Oui-ste-a-sko-ak, and thus provide some insight into the significance of the cannon. Although our guess is that the language is Seneca, it could be from any of the six tribes of the League of the Iroquois: Mohawk, Oneida, Onandaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora.

We started with a contact at the Mohawk Reservation at Masena. He puzzled over the phrase and said that the language had changed a lot, but thought that it refers to an object or where it's at. I thanked him for the start, and next went to the annual festival at the Ganondagan site in Victor, a former Seneca village until it was destroyed by Denonville in 1687. A site guide said that he had a Seneca dictionary, but this turned out to be a collection of everyday sayings, such as "The corn is as high as an elephant's eye", which I think came from the Indians in Oklahoma. Next, I was referred to an elderly Seneca woman in native dress who looked at the saying, consulted her husband, and then said, "Beats me; I don't even know what language this is." OK, whom can I ask next? She pointed to Peter Jemison, who was nearby with a group of friends.

Peter is the Ganondagan site manager, an artist, author of a book on the Treaty of Canandaigua, and active in Native American affairs. He is a descendant of Mary Jemison, who was abducted by Indians as a child in 1758 and brought up by the Senecas. He listened to my story of the cannon, the Canoe Club, and George Harris, then consulted with his friends on the meaning of Oui-ste-a-sko-ak. The first suggestion was that it said something about a stone-thrower. Possibly, this referred to the cannon. Next, it was thought that it had something to do with a frog. "That's it!", I exclaimed. "We used to be known as the froggies on the Bay!" So I turned to Jemison, and said that the problem was solved. I will tell the club that Oui-ste-a-sko-ak refers to The Place Where Frogs Throw Stones. Isn't history easy?

Leo Balandis April 1, 2003