1924  By nightfall the wild fan of dogs were scrambling like a pack of wolves up the slope of the last igloo village on the coast, miles beyond the point we had hoped to make.
2n.
a method of harnessing sled dogs. See fan hitch 1956 quote.
1936  In Baffin Island the Eskimos hitch their dogs to the sledge by means of long individual single traces, which centre in a long bridle of heavy sealskin attached about three feet to the rear of the forward end of the runners. This arrangement is known as "the fan" in contradistinction to the method of single file hitch used in the forest and referred to as "the tandem."
1942  The dogs were hitched in fan formation, the only one possible in the rough Hudson Bay country.