The bark cover was commonly in two lengths on the bottom of the canoe, summer bark being used. The post maintained a supply of bark for canoe building and sheets 4 fathoms in length and 1 in breadth were not uncommon. Such sheets would have been ample for the cover of a small canoe but would not be expended so needlessly; hence, the canoes, large or small, had two lengths of bark in their bottoms. The lap was toward the stern. In what appears to have been a local characteristic of the canoes built at Christopherson's posts, the bows were indicated by making the thwarts toward that end slightly longer than those toward the stern, so that the forebody was fuller at sheer than the afterbody; the canoe master could thus instantly see which end was the bow without having to examine the bottom or the bark cover. The two pieces of bark sewn together were placed on the building bed and the building frame placed on it and weighted down, in the usual manner. The stakes were then set in the holes in the bed and the bark secured to them with the usual inside stakes, as well as with the clothespin-like clamps used by the Algonkin and other Indian canoe builders. The end stakes were set in a peculiar manner: a short pair were set with their heads sloping inboard, for use later to support the sheering of the outwales, and a long pair were set raking sharply outboard to help support the bark required for the high ends. As the bark cover was made up, pieces were worked into the ends to allow the high ends to be made. The side panels often seen on the eastern Indian bark canoe were used, and the bark doubled at the gunwales. The doubling pieces were put on about 6 inches wide and trimmed off after the outwales were in place. The pieces were widest amidships, and when trimmed would extend about two inches or a little more below the outwales, narrowing somewhat toward the ends. Longitudinal battens to fair the bark along the sides were placed as usual in canoe building. The main gunwales were originally made of white cedar, but when this became scarce at the posts, whipsawed spruce was used instead. The gunwales were rectangular in cross section, with the outer lower corner beveled off. The cross section of the inner gunwale member was smaller, in proportion, than the outwale, compared to a small eastern Indian canoe. The gunwales were bent "on the flat" in plan, and were sheered "edge bent." The tenons for the thwart ends were cut slanting, so that when the gunwales were made up they stood at a flare outward toward the top edge. The gunwales had much taper toward the ends as it was usual to work in some sheer in these members. The canoes built at Christopherson's posts, unlike some other trade canoes, had a good deal of sheer at the ends, as the main gunwales rose nearly to the top of the stem.