Invisible ubiquity has lately been fascinating me. What are the threads of society’s fabric that are essential but largely unseen? Underground utilities fall into this category: the pipes and conduits carrying water, electricity, and fiber optic lines. Don’t forget sewers and storm drains.
In the West, especially in southern Idaho, the arteries of the land are the canals. Many are still open and obvious if you turn your head for a glance as you roll over them at 45 mph, though miles and miles now dive under the crust of our civilization, still doing their duty beneath our feet.
Another Western ubiquity brought order and war in equal quantity when it first appeared. Invisibility was one of its selling points, though a deadly feature for some. The demarcation of ownership is now so commonly stretched across the land that our eyes edit it out: Barbed wire.
Over the next. Five days I’ll take a look at the history of barbed wire, especially as it relates to Idaho. You’ll learn about the love/hate relationship early settlers had with it, why Indians called it The Devil’s Rope, how this livestock control device became a tool of suppression and war, and why it was so important for communication.
Tomorrow: Do Fence Me In
In the West, especially in southern Idaho, the arteries of the land are the canals. Many are still open and obvious if you turn your head for a glance as you roll over them at 45 mph, though miles and miles now dive under the crust of our civilization, still doing their duty beneath our feet.
Another Western ubiquity brought order and war in equal quantity when it first appeared. Invisibility was one of its selling points, though a deadly feature for some. The demarcation of ownership is now so commonly stretched across the land that our eyes edit it out: Barbed wire.
Over the next. Five days I’ll take a look at the history of barbed wire, especially as it relates to Idaho. You’ll learn about the love/hate relationship early settlers had with it, why Indians called it The Devil’s Rope, how this livestock control device became a tool of suppression and war, and why it was so important for communication.
Tomorrow: Do Fence Me In
By Prosthetic Head - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68927713
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