How and why did people transport entire cities on horseback?
How and why did people transport entire cities on horseback?

Video: How and why did people transport entire cities on horseback?

Video: How and why did people transport entire cities on horseback?
Video: Москва слезам не верит, 1 серия (FullHD, драма, реж. Владимир Меньшов, 1979 г.) - YouTube 2024, November
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Moving to another city is never easy, but what if it only needed horses (okay, a couple). In the 1920s, this was a common practice, and this is not just about moving your belongings, but about moving … with your home. Today it seems absurd, but earlier, if necessary, not just a separate house, but entire cities moved all their buildings with the help of horse teams.

The house that the horses carry
The house that the horses carry

In the 1920s, Lake Saskatoon was a small, bustling community. When the railway was laid a few kilometers from the city, the settlement immediately lost its importance as a regional transport hub. The residents did what any intelligent community would do in such a situation - they put their houses and shops on huge "sleds", and then, with the help of horses, dragged them several kilometers up the road. As historical photographs show, at that time it was the usual mode of transportation.

The "transfer" of the house from Creswick to Allendale circa 1905
The "transfer" of the house from Creswick to Allendale circa 1905

The picture above shows a team led by Jack Dempsey, who spearheaded the move from Creswick to Allendale around 1905 after his town was abandoned by the declining Gold Rush. About ten horses were used to move, and to prevent the porch of the house from collapsing, diagonal struts were installed in it.

Saving a house from demolition
Saving a house from demolition

The next photo (below) shows the home of Dr. Chapman, who was one of many people announced in 1893 that their homes were to be demolished. Catona, New York, was about to be flooded to expand New York's water supply. Instead of accepting that their houses would go to the bottom of the reservoir, residents “uprooted” their homes from their homes, smeared the rails with laundry soap and slowly drove to a neighboring town.

Such a difficult move
Such a difficult move

Such transfers required great efforts, and remarkable endurance, because they had to go in the rain and snow, and the roads left much to be desired. And sometimes the houses were too big for the road and simply did not fit, for example, on the bridge.

Moving by horse power
Moving by horse power

Time did not stand still, cars became more and more common and at some point in history people began to use much more "horsepower".

Home transportation
Home transportation

By the mid-20th century, when San Francisco's historic homes were threatened by urban expansion, entire neighborhoods of Victorian homes were raised on stilts and thrown over the city's hills to safety - at least some of them. The caravans of these ornate houses traveling along the roads were documented by photographer Dave Glass in the late 1970s. These photos show the result of a thirty-year reconstruction scheme for Western Addis in San Francisco. So in the mid-1950s and 60s, entire neighborhoods were cleared, and, of course, it was not possible to transport everything - up to 2,500 Victorian houses were destroyed.

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