“CAT-SKINNING”

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 March 1937, Page 11

“CAT-SKINNING”

MUSKEG MIRACLE WORKERS. In the American Northland the colourful dog teams used for freight hauling have largely given way to heavy transport planes, which, in turn, are being replaced by caterpillar tractors, or “cats” as they are known. The train of sleighs they draw is called a “swag,” its driver a “skinner.” The saga of “cat-skinning” has created a new vocabulary. The first “cat” appeared four years ago,-‘when a prospector named Jowsey struck gold in the Hudson Bay sector. He was 132 miles from a railway, which deposited 1,100 tons- of machinery and mining equipment at the nearest point. There was neither road nor trail. Under the Northern lights, the “skinners” climbed into their cabs, and the first heavy “swings” were on their way. Each carried 30 to 40 tons. They trundled on, smashins’ down brush, rattling over rocks, crawling circumspectedly along the ice of many lakes. Where the 'ice was thin, the trail was “slushed.” This consisted of mixing snow and water, and spreading the mixture on the thin ice. As soon as it was spread it froze,, and in some places the ice was thickened as much as sft. “Bunting” poles, great pieces of pine, Sin. thick, were fastened between the sleighs, to prevent them running up on each other when the “swings” struck pitch holes in the trail. " In the biting cold, these poles snapped like matches, but the crew, carried on. Despite a hundred setbacks, the first large “cat haul,” was pronounced a success. The entire tonnage was delivered over trackless wilderness in two months. The new industry was fraught with many dangers. A “cat” went through the ice of a lake and, although- the “skinner’’ escaped the machine, vanished in Bft. of water, continuing down through 28ft. of muskeg (sticky mud). The insurance company sent out a diver, who went through a large hole out in the ice. He fought his way through the black ooze till he reached the “cat,” and fixed a hook to the drawbar. Eventually, it was salved. Another still lies under 80ft. of muskeg. Norway House, in Northern Manitoba, received 1,400 tons of mining machinery, consigned to Island Lake, 175 miles distant. It was being transported by a group of “cats” when the ico gave way under one, with a load of 45 tons. The cargo was mine hoists, and could not be replaced. The diver found the water too cold, but Northern ingenuity came to his aid. The air group was placed beside a red-hot stove in the caboose and boiling water was poured on the valve of his helmet as he descended. The machinery was salvaged. Tough men, these ‘skinners, but the toughest of all is a foreman operating out of The Pas, Northern Manitoba. A heavy machine went through the ico. Before it could reach the colder depths, he plunged ip, without waiting for a diving suit, to be heated. He stayed under for two minutes, during which he was able to make a line fast. The cat. was salved, after rubbers thawed him. To-day, the “cat.” trains roar over Northern trails, behind a huge tank sleigh, which ices the road for them. Forty-ton “swings” have grown to 300 tuns' The largest hauls 311 logglug sleighs, with a total pay-load weight, of 1,400 tons.

Whole setth'inenls are. transported on "cats.” They lake social life in with them, too, for at (he gold mine camp ai God’s Lake you will find women in fashionable gowns, gracing iauctions in a frontier community, which has electric light in every home, and a central steam-heating plant sr'r’'in'T the whole settlement. “Cats” aru playing their part in unrolling the mai. of Canada ini'’ the frozen Arctic.