3.2.3 Other distortions
Empirical studies of individual routes, like those of Vance (1961) on the contrasting course of the Oregon Trail and the Union Pacific Railroad across the Rocky Mountains, or of Monbeig (1952) on the routes across the Serra do Mar in southeastern Brazil, show that in no case was the location ever as simple as Losch's geometry suggests. Equally, in no case does its influence appear to be lacking. One major factor causing variation from the lex parsimoniae, Lisch's law of least effort, is the political aspect of a transport route. This was considered by C. H. Cooley in one of the earliest studies of transport theory (Cooley, 1894, p. 53) and also by Wolfe in Transportation and politics (1963). Certainly in railroad building, the association between the Canadian Pacific Railroad and the unification of Canada, and similarly between the Trans-Siberian railroad and Russia, is symbolic, even though the impact of the railroads may have been less decisive than was once thought. Even the detailed pattern of route networks may reflect major and minor political differences. In Figure 3.4 the 'aligning effect of the major boundary between the United States and Canada (stippled) on railroads (Figure 3.4a) is