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Paddling around the Salish Sea in a canoe.

Seems like a dream.

But there's a dream in the boat, too.

And Earl and Floyd.

Well, it's made their little dream come true with every handcrafted canoe they built.

Now, Tacoma historian Michael Sullivan and film producer McFarland have documented the story of the Willits brothers in their film makers on the tide.

We're learning more about the Willits Boys works of art rendered in Cedar next on northwest.

Now.

You.

For 55 years, Earl and Floyd.

Willits build handcrafted canoes in their little shop on Day Island.

There were variations, but generally speaking, they built and perfected one model.

And over the decades, until 1967, they built 918 of them.

Today, Willits canoes are highly prized collector's items, and nobody's really sure how many remain documenting this uniquely Tacoma story.

Our historian and longtime northwest now contributor Michael Sullivan and producer Mike Flynn, as Steve Higgins tells us, their film showing through February of 2025 at the Washington State History Museum is called makers on the tide.

Life on the water has been one of the cornerstones for generations.

On and around commencement, Beth.

Part of that history includes a canoe made along the shores of Puget Sound for half a century.

It's a canoe many believe is the finest ever made.

A set of skills of hands.

Skills of hands.

Making skills that you sense are not really being preserved.

I think Tacoma should take a great deal of pride and and having birth help birth the business in the brothers business.

The Willets Brothers Canoe Company between the early 1900s until the mid 1960s.

Brothers Earl and Floyd Willits handcrafted double planked cedar canoes, mostly inside a factory built on Dale Island, despite two World wars disrupting production.

The brothers managed to handcraft a short of 1000 nearly identical canoes.

Several are on display inside the Foss Waterway Seaport.

If you came across somebody else in that lake and you saw that you had a boat, it would be like, oh, you got a Willits.

Wow.

Some of the canoes ended up in fleets available for rent.

Some sailed their way into Red cross safety classes.

Others were loaded onto customers cars destined for adventure.

In a way, they record their like a diary of a moment in time in American history that just kind of.

It's that moment.

That moment continued until 1962, when 70 year old Floyd suffered a fatal stroke.

Brother Earl hope to continue filling orders but couldn't meet the exacting standards without his brother.

Robert died nearly five years later from prostate cancer.

You just don't.

You just don't make stuff like this anymore.

The Willits Archives helped produce makers on the tide, a documentary celebrating the family and their creation.

The film and several canoes are on display at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma.

People will want to see it because it's Tacoma.

Yeah, because these are beautiful pieces of art.

Because they can touch it.

The exhibits are a chance to see up close how the brothers built a business, how their canoes brought people closer to nature, and why so many believe the finest canoes in the world were made in Pierce County, Washington.

When you're paddling, you know, there's a there's a drumbeat that kind of connects with your heart, almost.

In Tacoma, Steve Higgins, northwest now.

now, our historian and longtime northwest now contributor Michael Sullivan and Washington State History Museum director of exhibitions Mary Michael Stump.

Michael, I want to start with you.

Kind of the basic question here with this film is how did this idea come about?

Is this something you've been holding in reserve for a long time, waiting to tell your story or how how did it come about?

Well, in September of 2020, the grand niece and grand nephew of the Willits brothers finally decided to, to get rid of the property to sell the property on the island.

And a lot of us, a lot of people in the paddle community, a lot of people that had collected or seen Willits canoes knew about the rumors floating around that this factory had been sealed.

And 55 years ago, nobody had been inside.

And it like Tut's tomb.

I mean, what's there now?

Everybody speculated that the original Pattons and the manufacturing process was all kind of secret under way in the building.

So that was tantalizing.

And then when, Kendall Willits, the grand, nephew, called me, he was trying to figure out, what do we do?

We're going to sell the building.

And, you know, we don't want to have it all go to, you know, just go to the whim.

Sure.

All those documents and the tools and we didn't.

Yeah.

And at the time, they really didn't even know what all was there.

Yeah, they didn't realize.

But once we got inside, the entire story was there.

Not only the last canoe.

The brothers build together all of their patterns, all of the physical material of the factory.

But, Earl, the older brother, was a photographer.

Okay?

They're meticulously they had all of the records, the photographs, the entire story of the building of this.

So there's a lifetime of that.

There's that film shooting itself in some ways with all that documentation.

And the beautiful man that sounds.

Yeah, I, I can see kind of a King Tut's tomb moment there.

Yeah.

No.

And, Mary Michael, how did the Washington State History Museum learn of this?

Were you over in the wings to waiting for this to come about or.

I only wish.

I only wish that we had been there on that day.

Mick Flynn and Michael have a project, called Tacoma Home Movies.

And Michael has been a friend of the historical society, and, me for quite some time.

And so Mick and Michael brought the Tacoma home movies to the History Museum, and it was such, wonderful warm evening of sharing things with the community.

And they were so good together on the stage that, I had heard I had read a post that Michael had done.

So you cut a little wind project.

Okay.

So, we had an an opportunity, an opening on our exhibition schedule come up.

And so I reached out to them and said, how close are you to finishing that?

And, you know, what would it take?

And apparently it would just take a little nudge.

Nice.

Yeah.

So we were so thrilled to get that because it gives our visitors an opportunity to really, literally sit down with history and consume it in a very different way.

There's a physical piece, plus the media piece that goes together really nicely.

Yeah.

And, so we were we were just thrilled.

This is incredible story.

Both local law, but also history that, you know, reaches out far beyond the island.

Oh, yeah.

They went viral before there was viral.

So yeah.

Absolutely.

Michael, talk a little bit about the role of the Willits family.

You you mentioned them in terms of having this, this trove and wanting to find a way to preserve that.

They must be thrilled by this talk a little bit about what their reaction has been to see this memorialized and to have their documents in these treasures.

Now it's in the northwest now room.

Now, if I'm not mistaken, talk a little bit about their, their role in that, what their reaction has been.

And going forward.

Well, they are thrilled and, Kendall lives with his wife and family in Mexico.

And Cindy, his sister lives and, she's a nurse and they live in, in San Antonio.

So it was a burden for them to have the property, the 11 lots that the boys bought on the island early, I mean, right before the First World War, when it was nowhere.

And they built the factory and then eventually built a home they lived in right next to it.

So that that property has stayed in the family all the way up to to 2020.

Selling the property was easy today.

You can imagine what that, But what do you do responsibly with a story like this?

And all of the elements of that story that are all have been kept together?

Yes.

And how do you find a safe landing for that?

And in the end, this is a great lesson for a family dealing with.

What do you do with legacy?

The the paper, two dimensional materials were left to the public library, which immediately scanned photos, created a website.

I mean, they really reacted.

So, yeah, to the Tacoma Public Library for their management.

The three dimensional objects went to the, Foss Waterways Seaport Museum.

Perfect.

Locally.

And that it certainly is of state significance.

But it was a better at that point.

It was easier to deal and probably better to stay with the Tacoma institution, for the three dimensional objects.

So the entire contents of the library now is in, in a historic warehouse building stored.

So the the collection has been kept together.

Mary Michael, have you had any reaction from the family who have seen the exhibit or or I've talked to people who've gone to see the film at the museum.

You know, I haven't had an opportunity to to chat with folks directly.

It opened on October the 5th, so it's only been there a short time.

Yeah, but it's really wonderful to walk through the space and see people.

I was worried a little bit.

You know, when people come to a museum, they used, they're used to about seven minute films or nine minute films or four minute films, not a 40 minute full feature documentary.

So I was, you know, wondering whether or not people would withstand.

Yeah.

And it's no problem.

Yeah.

I mean, some of some of, the people that I've observed have actually stayed home, watched it a little bit.

That's great.

Yeah.

Great.

Great.

Michael, talk a little bit about the history, which is of course, your thing.

I associate that time period with bad things.

World War one, a flu epidemic.

It is not a whimsical time of canoeing around and having a, you know, recreation, but sent me straight.

Why am I not thinking correctly about that?

Well, they.

Yeah, but you have to imagine at the core of this story is absolutely beautiful boat, small, lightweight 17ft boat that a one of a kind boat that the boys over the span of their two lifetimes made 920 times.

We me.

That's how many boats they made.

Basically all the same boat.

They started making the boat when they graduated from the stadium.

Both of them were involved in the First World War and coming out of the First World War, they went to work on mastering the boat that also corresponds with the, the beginnings of what we think of as tourism and outdoor recreation.

We start to think about national parks, our first state park, 1915, our first state park.

For 1920 continues to be the decade that we built the most roads in Washington state.

So for the first time, people can get in a car, they can go to the beach, or they can go to the mountains or whatever.

The boys, they made a 80 pound boat.

That and one of the accessories they sold with the boat were card top carriers.

Okay.

So people could, for the first time, instead of a heavy rowboat or something, they could pick up a lightweight, western red cedar boat.

1 or 2 people could get it off a car and into the water.

You could now get out, do it.

And, at the same time, tourist resorts are starting to come along there on American Lake.

Several places.

There are liveries that are called that are basically boat rental operations.

They're buying whole fleets of canoes, the big fleets.

So they were right on the market.

Yeah.

They right.

They swallowed the market.

And even through the depression, even through the 1930s, they continued to do well to their product line.

And you you ask me once about why they didn't advertise.

They had a waiting list.

These were, you know, they could only make them so fast.

There's no scaling up this up there.

Like bowing to God.

Yeah.

Building boats.

Yeah.

And so you had to go back line.

Yeah.

But no they, they were producing a product that fit a social and historical moment.

Yeah.

In our part of the world they had the absolutely beautiful perfect product at just the right, just the right time.

Yeah.

Mary Michael, this is an example of why history and context is so important.

I associate that time period and I'm thinking about bad stuff.

Michael comes here and draws this picture of this world and I say, oh yeah, the national parks.

Oh, yeah, the advent of the automobile.

And that's why putting something like this in context is so darn important, and why we need museums and things, because it really helped.

Even, like I said, in my thinking, being aware of this, that really helped me contextualize it a little bit to talk about that role of a museum and playing that role.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, a story like this, a love letter to these brothers who made this incredible, iconic, you know, form really at is such an access point to all these other things that you're talking about.

Our, you know, our mission is history connects us all.

And it it really does.

It's the thing it is that sort of connective tissue between us because, yes, certainly bad things were happening, but also people were looking for relief from that.

And, and technology was, you know, increasingly opening up the world.

Right, exactly.

And that, I mean, I think we see that even in the Willits, you know, factor and, and how how they were making things, very analog in a lot of ways.

But I think they were, you know, definitely, embracing aspects like, you know, bent wood, steam processes and, and, and thinking in terms of how can they make a better, a better boat that's light enough to port, you know, and enough that recreation can really be a focus.

Mike, let's talk a little bit about the Willits brothers.

Who were they were do you think they were thinking about factory and producing boats, or do you think they were thinking about art and perfecting a piece of cedar?

What do you think the mindset was?

I think it was a little bit of both.

I think, you know, the, the parallel I would make, they were like instrument makers, like like Martin guitar luthier or or.

Yeah, luthiers.

You know, Stradivarius, kind of.

They wanted to make the best vessel they could, with an understanding and a curiosity about the materials they used.

Western red cedar was exclusively.

And that was the magic material that made their boats better than, the oak and the the other canoes that white around.

Lightweight, super lightweight, super buoyant, super flexible, and and their particular design where they had planking on the inside, super thin planking on the inside, super thin planking going the other way on the outside with a glued canvas like material in between for a waterproof and, and you know that just a digression.

They were producing the canoes for the University of Washington at the same time that George Pocock was developing racing shells out of western red cedar, and that that same material and that ultrathin technology was what led to the quality of the boys in the boat.

I was going to say, okay, Olympic gold medal in 1936.

What did they work collaboratively?

Do they talk to one another?

We talk about this in the film.

They they definitely consulted back.

And there was a little competition between between them, but they were both basically creating the same kind of object out of the same material.

And they were going after the same idea about perfection, flexibility, speed in the water, all those things.

So, they must be a dream to paddle, are they?

It's absolutely.

There's nothing quite like paddling.

Oh, well, it's they are.

They're made out of this environment and they fit in the water.

It's they have a flex to them.

They almost have a, lively reaction to to being in the water.

And in the documentary, our good friend Robert Deacon begins a documentary telling the stories of people.

Yes, family.

Family, well known, tells the story, legend story about how the sky gods come and steal away the canoe maker from the people down below.

And how all the creatures in the world go after getting the canoe maker back.

It was that important to them.

And he talks about how a sense of material, a sense of that myth, that story, how it all is a parable that involves the natural world around us.

And I, the boys tapped into that.

They understood.

Yeah, the qualities of the material they weren't making carved work canoes or the big paddling canoes, but they certainly were dealing with the same, you know, the same ideas.

It is such a northwest story because you're talking about wood, you're talking about makers.

You're talking about art.

You're talking about a local product that goes national, which has been repeated over and over and over and over again in the intervening years.

How does the museum approach it?

Do you approach did you say this is an art exhibit?

We're this is about art and this is these are local artists, or do you say this is a factory?

This is, the canoe version of Boeing.

It's an industrial story.

How did how did how did you settle on what the what the tone was?

Well, it's interesting that you asked that because they so sculptural in form.

You know, we're a history museum, but we also show art and culture and other things like that.

And so, our approach to this particular exhibit is different than anything else.

All of the interpretation is in this beautiful film.

So we didn't want to put a whole bunch of things on the wall that would take away from that content.

I didn't I really wanted visitors to sit with it and and consume that.

But also you can't look at the film and not just hunger to see the actual thing.

So we were lucky enough to get three Willits canoes on loan, one from Mac and two from Tim McDonald and Kate Brooker, and they're so they're in situ.

The the film is you're sitting what I love is that our exhibits team made these mounts for them that put them up.

So when you're sitting in the chairs watching the film, you're about at the level that you would be as you look over the canoe, that you would be sitting in the canoe.

And so you really get a sense it's immersive, but it's very minimal.

And the boats and the film, they're really just the star of the show.

I'm not going to put you on the spot, but I know with museums it's you've got to keep keep it fresh and keep it new.

Do you think this is something you feel like this is a one and done?

Will this repeat because it is such a Tacoma and Northwest story, does it become a permanent piece of your thing?

I don't like I said, I'm not putting the under pressure, but I'm just I know you're not signing a document.

I'm just I'm just curious what kind of what you're thinking.

You know, I would love to tell this story permanently.

Unfortunately, none of these things are in our collection.

They're all on loan.

Okay, so it's not a reality for us.

The farce, as Michael said, all of the 3D things from Day Island went to the Seaport Museum, which, you know, is understandable.

So you'd have to kind of reconnect to, hey, let's do this again two years from now and get the band back together, kind of what you want to do.

So actually that I think that, I think the film is going to go to some festivals and, and other things starting at the museum, but hopefully other folks will get a chance to see it because it really is so wonderful.

And, you know, we're always we have five temporary galleries, so we can always explore this story and many other ways.

The content that's at the Northwest Room is really incredible.

And so resource plans and photos and and and records.

So there are many stories to tell within this one story.

Yeah.

For with more digging to do.

Michael, nice segue to you.

Where can people see this film?

It's at the Washington State History Museum right now.

But what are your are you have any plans?

Have any thoughts?

What's going on?

I know that I know we're going to talk about it on KTC.

So talk a little bit about kind of what the.

Do you have a plan yet for the film.

Well, we're yeah, we'll probably do a film festival circuit and then we're talking to some kind of affinity groups, conferences and people that are into either paddle sports, outdoor recreation, environmental.

And then we didn't talk about this, but we came across a trove of black and white footage from the 20s and 30s from four when summer camp up in, in Orcas Island, which is an early Girl Scout camp up there.

And they were they had a major fleet of Willard's canoes.

And we kind of have a chapter in the film that just deals with summer camps and this whole generation of young people who and especially girls, little girls going to summer camp and getting in a canoe and paddling, you know, off to, you know, a pretty big adventure for young women and, and how empowering and how, you know, you can almost see a ethic about environmental protection and stuff that we think of today starting to emerge through that.

Well, that footage then, is something we owe it greater than to the film.

That's part or part two.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's always another film to make.

Last question for you, Michael and and Mary Michael, if you have some input on this too, is there a still a little bit of a mystery to this or are there, you know, for unknown canoes out there where nobody knows where they are and everybody's looking for them, there is in the collector in the park, car hobby that I'm a little familiar with.

What's the story with the canoes that they all been found?

Might some be pulled out of a barn somewhere down in Roy?

I mean, what's the story there?

Yeah, we end the film with just not to give away, but with the question.

I mean, no one knows for sure.

How will it survive of the 900 and whatever that were made?

You know, these are wooden objects.

It's a it's a organic material.

And, you know, when fiberglass and aluminum come along there, something becomes obsolete.

It, you know, an understanding I could easily discarded and how many got left out in the weather and whatever.

So it is a great question.

How many of the will handmade will its canoes survive in the world?

And then the other question for us who are interested in their continued use and preserving them as you know, to be used, a lot of them are in museums now, are they're hanging on walls in, you know, there's one in Gig Harbor, in the medical facility.

There's one.

Yeah.

You know, University place.

Well, that's a great way to end it.

I like I like the idea of ending up with a little mystery that there might, you know, check the data plate on that wooden canoe at your grandparents house, take a look.

And they could be painted and hiding in plain sight.

All right.

It's another one.

Great conversation.

Thank you both.

Thank you so much.

Thanks.