What is a rod??

What is a rod? This is a question we are frequently asked when talking about various canoe routes. If you are new to the BWCA and review the maps, you will notice that portages between lakes are marked in rods. Well, what is a rod? In short, a rod is an archaic measurement of 16.5 feet or a the length of a canoe. Well certainly now canoes come in all lengths but at one time, 16.5 was it.

In researching the actual term a little further, I found this on Wikipedia: 'The rod is a unit of length, equal to 5.5 yards, 11 cubits, 5.0292 meters, 16.5 feet, or 1/320 of a statue mile. A Rod is the same length as a perch and a pole. The lengths of the perch (one rod) and chain (four rods) were standardized in 1607 by Edmond Gunter.

The length is equal to the standardized length of the ox goad used by medieval English ploughmen.
The rod is still in use as a unit of measure in certain specialized fields. In recreational canoeing, maps measure portages in rods. This is a thought to persist due to the rod approximately the length of a typical canoe'.

The rod was still in use as a common measurement when Henry David Thoreau used it in his work Walden in the mid 1800's. More recently, Grandpa on The Simpsons referred to his cars mileage in getting "forty rods to the hogshead".