There have been many varieties of barbed wire, and, as you can see in the photo above, the Edwards County Museum in Kinsley, Kansas displays quite a number.
Barbed wire was first proposed in France in 1860. The first patent in the U.S. was granted in 1867, and it was swiftly followed in the same year by five more patents. Barbed wire proved to be much cheaper than alternative fencing methods, and the settlement of the American great plains provided a vast area where it could be used. Demonstrations at the time showed it was simple to install and effective in limiting animal movement. According to the History Channel, one user offered this praise: “It takes no room, exhausts no soil, shades no vegetation, is proof against high winds, makes no snowdrifts, and is both durable and cheap.” Sales soared, and at the peak of barbed wire production there were 150 companies manufacturing it.
Initially, much of the land in the American West was “open range,” which meant cattle could graze where they wished and move freely from place to place. Barbed wire’s effectiveness in controlling the movement of cattle created conflict between ranchers, who valued open range for grazing, and farmers, who wanted to protect their crops or expand their farmland. This conflict came to a head after the “big die up” of 1885. Free range cattle had typically been able to migrate south during winter, but increasing use of barbed wire made it difficult for the cattle to escape the harsh winter weather of 1885, and some ranchers lost three-quarters of their animals.
At the time, both ranchers and farmers were fencing land with barbed wire, and soon there were “fence-cutting wars,” in which both sides took advantage of the fact that the only tool required to remove a barbed wire fence is a wire cutter. Ranchers cut the wire preventing free-range cattle movement, and farmers cut wire they felt improperly prevented expansion of farms.
Fence-cutting wars erupted throughout the West, but they were particularly severe in Texas, where organized groups with names like the “Blue Owls” cut fences, and armed bands of men opposed them. There were shootouts, and the Texas Rangers were called in to impose order. Arrests, indictments, and trials followed.
Today, we often think the West was tamed when town marshals overcame bands of outlaws, but the prosaic issue of fencing was perhaps more influential. States enacted laws that prohibited cutting barbed wire, and the long-term result was the reduction of free range and the imposition of structure on the Wild West.