“CAT-SKINNING”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23118, 18 February 1937, Page 11

“CAT-SKINNING”

A MODERN SAGA SUB-ARCTIC TRACTION In the American Northland the • colourful clog teams used for freight hauling have largely given way to 1 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 “ swing,” its driver a “ skinner.” The . saga of “cat-skinning” has created a new vocabulary. The first “cat” appeared four years 1 ago, when a prospector named Jowscy struck gold in the Hudson Bay sector. . He was 132 miles from a railway, which deposited 1100 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 ” wore on , their w'ay. Each carried 30 to 40 i tons. They trundled on, smashing down ■ brush, rattling over rocks, crawling cjrcumspectly 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 at sft. BIG POLES SNAP ' “ Bunting ” poles, great pieces of pine, 1 Sin thick, were fastened between the 1 sleighs, to prevent (hem 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, (he first large “ cat haul ” was pronounced a success. The entire tonnage was delivered over trackless wilderness in two months. The now 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 down through a large hole cut in the ice. He fought his way through the black ooze till ho 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 1400 tons of mining machinery, consigned to Island Lake, 175 miles distant. It was being transported by a group of “cats”.when the ;ce 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 pump 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 AND FEARLESS 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 ice. Before it could roach the colder depths, he plunged in, 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 “cal” 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 (hem. Forty-ton “swings” have grown to 300 tons." The largest hauls 36 logging sleighs, with a total pay-load weight of 1400 tons. Whole settlements arc transported on “cats.” They take social life in with them, too, for at the gold mine camp at God’s Lake you will find women in fashionable gowns, gracing functions in a frontier community, which has electric light in every home, and a central steam-heating plant serving the whole settlement. “ Cats ” are playing their part in unrolling the map of Canada into the frozen Arctic,