Transportation on Land 253 



Topography means the inequalities of the land surface, which 

 form natural barriers to free and easy traffic. Such obstacles 

 include mountains, deserts and plains, rivers and lakes, canyons 

 and rocky gorges, swamps, etc. With the improvement of 

 vehicles and the use of motive forces other than those inherent 

 in man and animals, roadways must be constructed or the 

 inequalities be leveled so that vehicles may move over them 

 with speed and safety. Thus mountains are cut through or 

 tunneled, gorges are made to provide roadways of light grade, 

 canyons, rivers, and swamps are spanned with structures of 

 steel and concrete, while even lakes and parts of the sea are 

 crossed by massive viaducts over which vehicles of tremendous 

 power and weight travel. All work of making straight and 

 level the ways regardless of surface inequalities is done with 

 the purpose of securing the most economical, safe, and rapid 

 travel and transportation. 



I. VEHICLES OF TRANSPORTATION 



105. Primitive vehicles. It was early discovered that a 

 long, heavy stick or a small tree could be moved with less effort 

 by dragging than by carrying. This suggested to primitive 

 peoples a better way of transporting game or household goods 

 than by carrying them on the head or shoulders. A small tree, 

 or two slim poles fastened together, much like the thills of a 

 buggy, could be utilized as a vehicle for transporting goods, 

 being dragged by man-power, or later by animals. One end 

 of this simple vehicle rested upon the ground ; near this end 

 the load was fastened, and the other end, like the handles of a 

 wheelbarrow, was lifted and pulled. By this means a heavier 

 load could be transported with less effort than by carrying. 

 The vehicle resembled a wheelbarrow without a wheel, to be 

 pulled instead of pushed. 



A vehicle of this kind was used by certain tribes of Indians 

 in North America for transporting their possessions from one 

 hunting ground to another. In recent years one might have seen 



