BARBED WIRE

Barbed wire (or barbwire) was commercially developed in 1874 by American inventor Joseph Glidden (1813–1906). The invention consisted of steel wires that were twisted together to make sharp points resembling thorns. Barbed wire was predominantly used in the West to construct fences. Because trees were scarce on the Great Plains, farmers had lacked the materials to erect wooden fences. Instead they resorted to planting prickly shrubs as a way of defining their lands and confining livestock. This method, however, was not always effective. With the advent of barbed wire farmers were able to fence in their acreage. But small farmers who put up barbed wire angered cattle owners who had previously allowed livestock to roam the open plain. Fearing depletion of grazing lands, ranchers also began using barbed wire to fence tracts, whether or not they could claim legal title to them. Disputes arose between ranchers and between ranchers and farmers. In 1885 President Grover Cleveland (1885–1889) brought an end to illegal fencing by ordering officials to remove barbed wire from public lands and Indian reservations. Thus, Cleveland helped determine what constituted legal use of barbed wire for defining land claim boundaries. That move also brought the demise of the open range and helped speed the agricultural development of the prairie.