The serial numbers of Old Town Canoes don't usually start with a letter or leading zero so you may want to verify your number on both ends and attach some pictures here. The suggestions at
http://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/791/ may help. The Old Town canoe with serial number 12471 is a 16 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, HW (heavy water) model with red Western cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, spruce finish (outside) rails, and a keel. It was built between November, 1909 and January, 1910. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on February 7th, 1910 to Philadelphia, Penna. A scan showing this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.
This scan and several hundred thousand more were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others as you probably know well. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at
http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See
http://www.wcha.org/about-wcha to learn more about the WCHA and
http://www.wcha.org/store/membership to renew.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. The Carleton canoe with this serial number is 18 feet long and the Kennebec is 17 feet. Pictures might help if you still aren't sure. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Benson