Editor’s note: we’re looking this week at the many changes brought on by the invention of widespread distribution of barbed wire. This is the second in a five-part series.
Consider the problem early settlers had in keeping things in and out of their property. Domestic animals would stray if they could, and native animals knew no boundaries.
People have been using hedges since the Neolithic Age, planting shrubs and trees to serve as fences. In Idaho, lines of windbreak trees are common enough, but they rarely do more than slow the breeze, having little impact on animals. No shrub was available that would thrive and twine in this arid land.
In some areas, there were plentiful lava rocks to make short fences. Moving the rocks out of the fields made farming easier, so there are a few surrounds of lava rock. Building miles of lava rock fence was too labor-intensive.
Wood was a common fencing material, especially for corrals. But it was expensive and required a lot of maintenance on a larger scale.
Barbed wire appeared on the scene in the West in the 1870s. Many sources pick 1867 as the year of its invention, though there were earlier efforts. I found a patent dispute that awarded ownership rights to the inventor because of an 1850 display of the wire he could point to.
The first mention of barbed wire in the Idaho Statesman was in 1878. The short piece reported Oregon and Washington farmers experimenting with the material, describing it like this: “Posts are set in the ground and this wire which has sharp barbs twisted into it, is stretched from one to the other.” The article noted that 50 coils of the wire were headed to Walla Walla, the third shipment to date.
Tomorrow: Legislators and Barbed Wire
Consider the problem early settlers had in keeping things in and out of their property. Domestic animals would stray if they could, and native animals knew no boundaries.
People have been using hedges since the Neolithic Age, planting shrubs and trees to serve as fences. In Idaho, lines of windbreak trees are common enough, but they rarely do more than slow the breeze, having little impact on animals. No shrub was available that would thrive and twine in this arid land.
In some areas, there were plentiful lava rocks to make short fences. Moving the rocks out of the fields made farming easier, so there are a few surrounds of lava rock. Building miles of lava rock fence was too labor-intensive.
Wood was a common fencing material, especially for corrals. But it was expensive and required a lot of maintenance on a larger scale.
Barbed wire appeared on the scene in the West in the 1870s. Many sources pick 1867 as the year of its invention, though there were earlier efforts. I found a patent dispute that awarded ownership rights to the inventor because of an 1850 display of the wire he could point to.
The first mention of barbed wire in the Idaho Statesman was in 1878. The short piece reported Oregon and Washington farmers experimenting with the material, describing it like this: “Posts are set in the ground and this wire which has sharp barbs twisted into it, is stretched from one to the other.” The article noted that 50 coils of the wire were headed to Walla Walla, the third shipment to date.
Tomorrow: Legislators and Barbed Wire
J.F. Gidden’s 1874 patent for barbed wire was an improvement on earlier designs and became the standard.
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