“The Six-shooter didn’t win the West, Barbed Wire did.” Quote unknown.
Discussing barbed wire might not be a dinner table topic for conversation, but it is interesting because it certainly did help settle the West. There is a discrepancy in the date of the first patent of barbed wire. One source lists 1874 and another lists 1867, with the patent to L. B. Smith of Kent, Ohio. And still another patent to a Michael Kelly of New York in 1868.
Barbed wire, sometimes mispronounced as ‘bobbed wire’ is usually placed atop of fencing or walls to prevent livestock from getting out of a pasture. Actually, early day cattlemen wanted free range for their livestock, but farmers planting crops wanted fencing to contain the cattle.
Improvement on the first barbed wire was developed and is known as the ‘thorny fence.’ Then another improvement was made in 1876 by Joseph Glidden and patented. It was the simple wire barbed onto a double strand wire. He also invented the tools to mass produce the barb to be locked into place. This is the familiar style of barbed wire used today.
Barbed wire has also been used by the military to protect their installations, storage sites and warehouses. Coiled, razor-sharp barbed wire is used around prisons.
“The Chronicles of Oklahoma”, published by the Oklahoma Historical Society, features a book review titled, “The Perfect Fence: Untangling the Meaning of Barbed Wire” authored by Lyn Bennett and Scott Abbott. A meticulous history of barbed wire is documented for the reader.
McCarter Museum has been the recipient of an interesting display of various styles of barbed wire. It is worth your time to see it. There is a booklet, “More Bobbed Wire’, featuring hundreds of barbed wire styles and fencing tools. This booklet is also in the museum.
The ‘point’ of this essay is----history comes in many forms!
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