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Devil’s Rope
It has infiltrated our lands like nothing else and has changed our way of life forever.
I find it interesting how this seeming simple piece of wire has had such a major impact on the lives of so many people. Since the day Joseph Glidden’s invention was first patented in 1873, Barbed wire has been loved and hated by people on both sides of this particular fence.
Glidden may not have known it at the time, but his was indeed a history changing invention. At the time, some men praised the new wire for what it could do. Others cursed it for what it did. The wire made some men very rich while others shed their blood and died because of it.
A little history…
Before barbed wire, the plains were wide open and unencumbered by fences. There was no effective way to contain livestock. Lumber for fencing was all but non-existent out on the prairie. Shrubbery took too long to grow and wasn’t practical to be of much use.
Cattle ranchers from southern states drove large herds for hundreds of miles across open country. They were heading for predetermined rail heads up north. From there they were shipped off to slaughterhouses back East. There was good money to be made driving cattle to northern markets. For a time, thousands were driven along popular cattle trails like the Shawnee, Chisolm and the Goodnight-Loving trail.
