Building a Travois — Pole-Frame Load Carrier

The travois is a simple A-frame transport device consisting of two long poles joined at one end and spread apart at the other, with a platform or netting between them for carrying loads. It is the oldest known land transport technology, predating the wheel by thousands of years. Before horses arrived in the Americas, Plains peoples used dog-pulled travois to move camp — the poles doubled as tipi frame poles. A human-pulled travois can transport 40 to 60 kg of cargo that would be impossible to carry on the back alone. The trailing pole ends act as skids, sliding over grass, snow, and rough ground. The design is so simple and effective that it remained in use alongside wheeled transport well into the 19th century for terrain where wheels cannot operate.