The Red River Cart, invented by the Me’tis people , was the first wheeled structure on the Canadian prairies and became one of the most popular modes of transportation during the fur trade.
The cart, nicknamed the “Northwest Fiddle”, was well known for it’s squeaking sound caused by the friction of a greaseless wooden wheel on a wooden axle. This deafening sound, heard miles away, inspired Canadian poet, Charles Mair in 1868 to pen, " It is like no sound ever heard in all your life, and makes your blood run cold. To hear a thousand of those wheels groaning and creaking at one time is a sound never to be forgotten – it is simply hellish `` .

This image and narrative information were obtained at the Fort Whyte Outdoor Education and Nature Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.