Barbed wire played a crucial role in settling the American West for agriculture and cattle ranching. Its invention by Joseph Glidden in 1860 incorporated cowboys, Indians, guerrilla fence cutting, and land activism. Barbed wire is cheap and effective, allowing many miles of material to be installed and maintained quickly. However, it was strongly opposed by the public, and free-range ranchers and Native Americans cut miles of it across the West to free their livestock and hunted wild animals. Today, it continues to be cut by activists protesting land use policies and agricultural practices.
Barbed wire is a ubiquitous feature throughout much of the West, where the invention played a crucial role in settling the West for agriculture and cattle ranching. Like most everyday inventions, few people give barbed wire extensive thought, although the history of barbed wire is actually quite an interesting one, incorporating cowboys, Indians, guerrilla fence cutting, and land activism. A few strands of yarn can cause quite a bit of a mess.
Barbed wire is generally defined as any wire incorporating multiple strands twisted together, with periodic spikes of protruding wire spaced evenly along the barbed wire. These wire barbs keep livestock in and nuisance animals out. Barbed wire does not require as meticulous stringing techniques as other types of wire do, allowing many miles of material to be installed and maintained quickly and cheaply. Barbed wire also has cousins like razor wire, which use sharp razors instead of beards for added security.
When the American West was colonized by Manifest Destiny, farmers brought their cattle with them. Initially, cattle roamed freely across the plains, identified by brands when periodically rounded up. However, poaching became a problem and Native American groups were unhappy with the damage caused by grazing cattle on their traditional lands. As a result, the farming community began looking for fencing methods.
Plain wire was in frequent use throughout the West and had been used for centuries to restrain livestock. However, the wire was not very effective at containing livestock and in large tracts of land it could not be properly maintained. In 1860, Joseph Glidden invented barbed wire, using twists of sharp wire at periodic points along a smooth wire strand to provide an obstacle for livestock.
Initially, barbed wire was called “the devil’s rope” and the use of the wire was strongly opposed by the public. Cattle were often seriously injured trying to get past barbed wire fences, and some non-farmers thought the use of wire was inhumane. Additionally, numerous free range ranchers feared that increased use of barbed wire would reduce their access to public grasslands.
Thus were born the fence-cutting wars, with free-range ranchers cutting miles of barbed wire across the West to free their livestock. Native Americans followed suit, because barbed wire fences obstructed the free passage of many traditionally hunted wild animals, such as buffalo. These fence-cutters were early land activists, determined to effect political change through direct action.
Attempts to keep the American West open failed, mainly due to the cheap and effective barbed wire that was quickly strung across the public prairies. Barbed wire is used on farms around the world and continues to be cut by activists protesting land use policies, agricultural practices and the confinement of ungulate species. The seemingly unremarkable fencing material deserves a second look.
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