Thursday, December 13, 2018

Barbed Wire - Western Frontier

Some of the most interesting and under the radar inventions have been able to change the world as we know it today. One of those inventions is barbed wire. Barbed wire has shaped our world as we know it today and history long before. Without barbed wire our farmers and countryside’s would have been changed drastically throughout time. Barbed wire did not only effect the open range but it also pushed for change in all areas of frontier living.
Giddens played an influential role in the production and design of barbed wire as we know it today. Giddens was not the first to come up with barbed wire, but his design was by far the most successful. Giddens was successful because of the patent that he received from the U.S. Government and the quick and reliable ability of mass production. Giddens wire is the cheapest, strongest, and most durable barbed wire that there is available to date. The wire was influential because it was able to successfully hold in cattle, exhaust no soil, did not shade vegetation, and did not make snowdrifts. Barbed wire was easily advertised for the time period. It was known as “The Greatest Discovery of the Age”, and Gates described his wire as “lighter than air, stronger than whiskey, and cheaper than dust.”
Barbed wire played a major role in helping to progress and expand the Homestead Act. The Homestead Act allowed any and all citizens to claim up to 160 acres of land (includes women and freed slaves). The new settlers needed a way to contain their cattle and livestock so that the vegetation was not destroyed and cattle could not escape. Without barbed wire the Homestead Act would not have been able to be as successful as it had been because of the security and cost challenges that would have risen for the new farmers in the area.
Barbed wire contributed to the end of the “open range.” Before barbed wire, the Great Plains were wide, expansive, grand, free, and unrestricted. With the new invention of barbed wire, all of that soon changed. The Plains were now restricted, blocked off, and unavailable for roamers of any kind. Traditionally, fences were used by farmers to contain their cattle, but in the 1800’s Texas changed this when they pioneered into barbed wire. This new invention lead to a dramatic change from free and open plains to blocked off and a “land of fences.” Land encountered in the mid-late 19th century was vast and expansive, without trees, fences, stones, or walls to interrupt an adventure in the West. Over many decades this once free and wild west turned into a land of divisions and separation all marked by the barbed wire fencing. Barbed wire soon gained legislation back up to defend against the oncoming attacks from Natives and Cowboys, which lead to the victory of barbed wire in the frontier.
With the changes to the once free and open range, natives and cowboys were not happy. The Native Americans gave the barbed wire a nickname, “The Devil’s Rope.” Cowboys also resented the change because it was prohibiting them from making long treks to railroads and doing what they were originally making a lifestyle out of. All of this came to a head when the “Fence-Cutting Wars” began to outbreak. Cowboys and Natives would go out and cut the barbed wire fencing while hunting or directing their heard. Masked gangs known as the Blue Devils and Javelins would cause violence and death with their shootouts. The philosophical debate took place while all of this violence was happening surrounding barbed wire. John Locke was one of the main contributors to the idea that you owe the work that you do, so if you work on your land then that land should legally be yours. Kansas was the first state to declare what came to be known as a “legal” fence with the new Kansas Fence Laws.
Barbed wire did not only effect the open range but it also pushed for change in all areas of frontier living. Barbed wire played a major role in the changing and shaping of our Western Frontier and without it the West would not be the same. Although, not everyone accepted the new changes that barbed wire presented, it ultimately won the legal war with legislation and government backing. Barbed wire was a major invention that took people by surprise at just how fast it was able to expand and soon contain the Western Frontier.
This is the patent application submitted by Giddens for his barbed wire design.






















This is an image of the many different barbed wire designs with dates and names.
This is an image showing the tensions that arose from barbed wire fencing.


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