DCHP-3

cat-swing

North
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

n.

a tractor-drawn train of sleds and cabooses (def. 5), the principal means of transporting freight, supplies, etc. in the Canadian North in winter.

See: caboose(def. 5),cat-train,swing(def. 2)

Quotations

1948
These "cat swings," travelling across frozen lakes in the winter months, carry more than 2,000,000 pounds of fish annually and transport supplies for development projects. . . .
1958
An important aid in the development of Manitoba's northland has been the "cat swing"--12 to 15 sleighs pulled by a team of tractors.
1962
The stretch from God's Lake to Ilford is a regular tractor train route used by many cat swings which then branch out to all the mines and trading posts in that part of the north.