How to Build a Travois
Plains woman using a travois to move her children from camp to camp. Via wikicommons.
Learning how to build a travois, and seeing one in action, can give you a better sense of what life on the American frontier was like.
By necessity, nomadic people aren’t very materialistic. If you have to get up and move on a regular basis you aren’t going to collect a whole lot of stuff. I doubt most Americans would wish to move out of their house every other week. We simply have too much stuff. In fact, the only reason we are able to accumulate so much stuff is the fact we don’t move very often. While each family within a band of nomadic Native Americans would have had varying amounts of articles that needed to be transported, the fact was that compared to us they simply didn’t have a lot of stuff.
That being true, it isn’t necessarily because they didn’t like stuff. The truth is when you are living in the woods, stuff sometimes is what makes you comfortable. Tools can help you complete tasks more easily, clothing can help you stay more comfortable, and bedding can help you get a better night's sleep. These are things that all people appreciate to one degree or another. The degree to which they appreciate their comforts is the degree to which they pack and transport items from one camp to another. In the past, this amount was often limited to the ability of the beast of burden you were using. When pre-Columbian Native people had only dogs to carry stuff, the odds are they didn’t carry that much stuff from camp to camp. However, after the introduction of the horse Native people began to collect more and more material items. When they did, the travois was a tool that they often used.
The travois is an old tool and has its roots in ancient history. Travois is defined as “a type of sled formerly used by North American Indians to carry goods, consisting of two joined poles dragged by a horse or dog.” It is known that pre-Columbian Native American people strapped these simple sleds to their dogs. As they traveled from camp to camp, the dogs did their fair share and pulled a few articles as well. However, a dog simply cannot pull an excessive load from one camp to another. The load that could be transport increased dramatically when horses hit the scene. It is believed that when they acquired the horse, nomadic people of the plains instantly began to accumulate more material items.
How a Travois is Built
If you have ever wondered at how to build a travois, you might find this video helpful. It describes the primitive travois I constructed and shows it in use. For the build, I used a primary source that obtained their information from Blackfoot elders still alive in the early 20th century. It uses only primitive materials and is likely very much like those pulled by native people for generations.
VIDEO COMING SOON!
As you can see, a travois really is a simple, yet effective way to transport goods around. In the past, it helped to move people as well. Young people, old people, hurt people, even puppies, were moved from camp to camp using a travois.
If you are reading History of the West with Jemmey Fletcher: Shinin’ Times and want to participate in the extension activity, I’d suggest building your own model as a start. You can use small sticks for the frame, and even modern string for the bindings. If your space and resources allow, you can even build a larger one as you get the hang of it. Doing so will teach you more about history than the above video is able to.
