steering vbl n Comb steering stick: a long pole jutting out from the front of a sled-load of wood and held by the man hauling the load so as to control the movement of the vehicle over the snow; GUIDER.
T 50/2-64 Get a couple o' turns of [the 'hauling rope'] around arm, an' a steerin' stick stickin' out through the wood, see—a long one. That's what you'd guide her by—come over the hills. T 409-67 'How d'you ever do it, hold on the steerin' stick one hand?' 'One hand, one hand; put me drugs on inside here on the level, and let her come! Hold on the steerin' stick.' C 70-15 The wood would be piled until the snow came and the ponds were frozen and then it was hauled on slides called catamarans or simply 'cats.' The men fastened a rope called a 'hauling rope' to the 'forward' beam of the catamaran and guided the load of wood with one stick of wood jutting out from the other sticks and called a 'steering stick.'
