Joe Seliga

Joe Seliga (11 April 1911 – 18 December 2005) was a master builder of wood-and-canvas canoes in Ely, Minnesota.

[1] Seliga built canoes from before World War II until his death at the age of 94, only stopping from 1942 to 1945, when he was forced to work as a miner.

In Jerry Stelmok's book, The Art of the Canoe with Joe Seliga, Sam Cook's foreword reads in part:[2] They are tucked away all over the north country.

Elegant, practical canoes crafted by the hands of Joe and Nora Seliga.

It was a matter of getting the right materials and taking the time to build a boat he was satisfied to put his nameplate on.On February 4, 1994, a fire destroyed Seliga's shop.

Joe Seliga in his Ely, Minnesota, workshop
A wood-and-canvas canoe built by Joe Seliga