"The Kansas City Times" (Missouri) Saturday, July 6, 1912 JUVENILE BOAT BUILDERS. Kansas City has two youthful boat builders. John OSBORNE, 12 years old, 3225 Woodland Avenue, and James MIDDLEBROOK, 13 years old, 1800 East Thirty-second Street, have just completed a dandy canoe, which they expect to send on its initial trip down the Blue River today. The boys began work on this craft three months ago, working on it at odd times, whenever they could get material. The canoe is eighteen feet long by two and one-half feet wide. It is made from canvas, painted over with heavy green paint to make it water tight. Barrel hoops and laths constitute the ribs. The canvas the boys bought with money they had earned doing odd jobs. They found the barrel hoops back of grocery stores, and the laths were given them by carpenters working on a new building near Thirty-fourth Street and Woodland Avenue. The boat is built upon regulation lines. "We wanted to boat and fish some this summer," said John OSBORNE, "so we just planned all winter on how we would do it. Now that we have done such a good job, we think we should get to go fishing once a week at least." ====================================================== (I have no connection with this family but I'd appreciate knowing if you found this posting helpful.) johnobrien@kc.rr.com ======================================================