weather, which is tiring for dogs. The dog travois can be seen in the paintings of Karl Bodmer. Horse travois By the mid-18th century, the dog travois had given way to the horse travois. According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, "When dogs were replaced by horses, the greater pulling power allowed tipis to increase in size and household goods to multiply." The Native Languages of the Americas website relates that: After horses were introduced to North America, many Plains Indian tribes began to make larger horse-drawn travois. Instead of making specially constructed travois sleds, they would simply cross a pair of tepee poles across the horse's back and attach a burden platform between the poles behind the horse. This served two purposes at once, as the horses could then simultaneously carry the tepee poles and some additional baggage. Horses, of course, could pull much greater weight than dogs. Children often rode in the back of horse travois. When traveling with a travois, it was traditional for Salish people to leave the tipi poles behind at the camp "for use by the next tribe or family to camp there." A horse travois can be made with either A-frame or H-frame construction. Other ways to use a travois The travois served the Native Americans in a number of ingenious ways. Before the use of horses, Blackfoot women made a curved fence of dog travois’ tied together, front end up, to hold driven animals enclosed until the hunters could kill them. When the women put up a tipi, they placed an upright horse travois against a tipi pole and used it as a ladder so they could attach the two upper sides of the lodge cover with wooden pins. A travois leaned against a branch of a tree functioned as a simple burial scaffold for a dead Crow baby tied to it. Travois tracks What today is known as the Lewis and Clark Trail-Travois Road, and Montana's Lewis and Clark Pass were areas heavily traveled where travois "were dragged over the trail, causing deep, parallel tracks to mark the earth," which are still visible today. Remains of travois tracks can also be seen at the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. See also Lewis and Clark Trail-Travois Road Carrying pole Sled Notes External links Dog Travois Plans Travois photos, A Song for the Horse Nation, National Museum of the American Indian Horse-Drawn travois