DCHP-1 Online

track Esp. North

• 1 v. draw or lead a canoe, boat, scow, etc. through rapids, shallows, or other difficult stretches of water by means of a line or lines running from the craft to a man, or men, on the bank or shore.

  See also: neck (def. 2)  sturgeon-head (boat)  tracker (def. 1)  tracking (def. 1)  trackline  cordelle ((v.))  line ((v.)) (def. 2)  

  • This practice, especially common in the Northland and called by several names, as lining and cordelling, varies in detail according to time and place, type of craft, kind of obstacle, and direction and nature of current. For example, canoes are often tracked by means of lines attached to both bow and stern. Loaded York boats and sturgeonhead boats were laboriously hauled through otherwise impassable stretches of the Mackenzie River by gangs of men equipped with special harness attached to long, heavy rope lines. Much information relating to the various conditions of tracking is to be found in,the many quotations offered f or this and related entries.

• 2 v. Hist. haul or drag a scow, York boat, etc. over a portage using logs as rollers.