Where you get your info about freemasons makes a huge difference, the last place you want to look is towards conspiracy theories. You will get two sides to every story. I will be the first to admit though they are a strange orginization. By the way welcome to the WCF!
Because of the prevalence of tributary streams and rivers in North America, canooing became a very reliable and safe means of travel which retarded advances in overland technology. Furthermore, since most tribes were nomadic, they followed their primary hunting game as they migrated to their seasonal forages. Therefore, there was no need for speed or for packing large quanties overland for long distances. The Native Americans usually only killed enough to satisfy their immediate needs and stored only enough for short stays. They prefered to travel light as well. When the Europeans brought horses to North America, they were adopted more for rapid mobility in warfare than as beasts of burden. Only the sedentary cultures like the Pueblo would have other uses for horses such as to pull carts.
Sorry guys, I think it's less about rules than about civility; several people commented that we shouldn't post anything we wouldn't say to the person face to face... true, that! I know most of us try to do this... some folks just can't resist that chance to slip in the zingger that they can't be slapped for (over the 'net)... sort of an electronic King's X if you will. When the kids make a really snide remark and then say "Just kidding." we all know they aren't and it is, sadly, the same thing when someone guts another person on a forum and then apologizes like it was just a tease that was misunderstood.Since we can't see faces or body language we need to consider how or posts look in the hard, cold light of a monitor. Glad that the posts here [are] at a high level of civility; kudos on and all. Wally