In 1876 salesman John W. Gates brought barbed wire to Texas when he wagered $1 million that he could build a fence that would capably contain cattle. Some incredulous gambler took the bet. Gates ...

Few inventions that were designed in the 1870s that have not changed since they were patented, and they are still widely used in the 21st century. Barbed wire is an innovation that fits this category, ...

Barbed wire is designed for strength and durability, making it an unusual but effective material for forging a blade. In this ...

In the mid 1800s, not many (non-native) Americans had ever been west of the Mississippi. When Frederick Law Olmstead visited the west in the 1850s, he remarked that the plains looked like a sea of ...

Glidden was an American farmer originally from Charlestown, New Hampshire. After growing up in Clarendon, New York, and finishing school, he returned to his father’s farm to work, according to ...

At the height of Manifest Destiny, when the United States was pushing into the West, the frontiersmen of the late 1800s needed a cheap way to contain livestock and keep grazing animals out of farm ...

Roman Mars’ podcast 99% Invisible covers design questions large and small, from his fascination with rebar to the history of slot machines to the great Los Angeles Red Car conspiracy. Here at The Eye, ...

Ms. Nijhuis is the author of “Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction.” She reported from Brewster, Wash. Sept. 26, 2023 “Wherever a farm may be located, or whatever may be its ...

When Frank Lorenti of Minturn, a rustic little burg down the road from the villageopolis of Vail in the Colorado mountains, put barbed wire up to keep snowmobilers off his property last winter, the ...