Eggcorn Forum

I usually think of “trackless wilderness” being uninhabited, and away from any steady human traffic that would leave tracks. My husband mentioned that he had heard the phrase “tractless wilderness”, and I do see it used frequently, and sometimes it does seem to be used to mean an unsurveyed area rather than a roadless one.

The difficulty of placing these correctly in a tractless wilderness, which has never been accurately measured, will at once plead both his excuse and mine.

MONTPELIER—It the mid-18th century, teams of men spread out across Vermont to map the tractless wilderness. ...

the first six hundred miles, nothing very worthy of remarks except a tractless wilderness, and wood scarce, but Buffalo dung plenty,