/ -----///----​///----///----///----​///----///----///​----/// -----/
September 26, 2015 2:25 PM   Subscribe

The Tangled History of Barbed Wire by Robert Zaretsky [Boston Globe]
“Like inventors from Joseph Guillotin to Alfred Nobel, whose creations escaped their original purpose and were yoked to evil ends, Joseph Glidden would have been shocked at what became of his. In 1874, the Illinois farmer and New Hampshire native, fastening sharpened metal knots along thick threads of steel, created barbed wire. Thanks to its high resilience and low cost, the rapid installation of the coils and lasting dissuasion of the barbs, the wire transformed the American West. Ranchers could protect their cattle against predators, both wild and human, as they pushed the frontier ever further west. The wire itself came to be called 'devil’s rope.'”
Previously. Previously. Previously.
posted by Fizz (13 comments total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
Brian Evenson wrote a unique novel about barbed wire, Contagion.
posted by idiopath at 2:35 PM on September 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


Ranchers could protect their cattle against predators, both wild and human, as they pushed the frontier ever further west.

As installed on ranch fences, barbed wire keeps cows in, it does not keep predators out.

I do wish that it was designed to decay or dissolve, though -- there are millions of miles of old fenceline still out there, rusted by still sharp.
posted by Dip Flash at 2:43 PM on September 26, 2015 [5 favorites]


Soooo much fun to work with, heavy leather gloves help but a day of fencing always leaves nicks and scratches. If you want to see the extremes of collectible culture google for barbed wire collections, I really never got that at all -- but the article is about the refugees in the news these days and how this bit of technology has been used for horrific ends. But like this concurrent thread about another technology unless we have an extinction event that wipes out the very concept (and most/all users) of technology tools will be used. For good. For bad. In many instances like "fencing the west" and Uber a lot of tech will be viewed as good by some and evil by others.

Science and technology is here to stay, no going back.
posted by sammyo at 2:52 PM on September 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


If y'all are ever in McLean, Texas be sure to visit the Devil's Rope Museum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Rope_Barbed_Wire_Museum
posted by CrowGoat at 2:55 PM on September 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


Remember Radio 4 did a great documentary on the history of barbed wire last year: The Devil's Rope (May be UK only)

Ian Marchant traces the story of how barbed wire privatised America. He drives from DeKalb, Illinois where 'the devil's rope' was invented, to the Barbed Wire Museum at La Crosse, Kansas, calling along the way at the birthplace of Buffalo Bill and the wildest cow-town of them all, Abilene, where Wild Bill Hickock was marshal. 'Uncle' Joe Glidden's simple invention was patented in 1874. Within 15 years it had put an end to the wild west and consigned its mythology to the dime novels and the movies. In the place of cowboys, indians and outlaws came civil society, modern capitalism and the idea that land is there to be owned and exploited.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:55 PM on September 26, 2015 [7 favorites]




Used to provide telephone and Internet services in rural Alberta, or so they say.
posted by five fresh fish at 3:42 PM on September 26, 2015 [4 favorites]


The barn where Glidden invented barbed wire is still standing and is located in a Burger King parking lot in Dekalb. You could argue that Manifest Destiny, the whole "taming of the West," and the reason World War I became a bloody war of attrition originates from that Burger King parking lot.
posted by Hey Dean Yeager! at 4:17 PM on September 26, 2015 [13 favorites]


Also the subject of a 99% Invisible episode: Episode 157: Devil’s Rope. (And the corresponding FanFare post, although it didn't get many comments.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:20 PM on September 26, 2015 [6 favorites]


One of the most influential history books I've ever read is Reviel Netz's Barbed Wire. I recommend it to basically everyone I meet.
posted by lilac girl at 4:27 PM on September 26, 2015 [3 favorites]


sammyo: In many instances like "fencing the west" and Uber a lot of tech will be viewed as good by some and evil by others.

"Genteel men! This here 'barbed wire' will deesroopt the fence pary-dime and position us to be the Carnegie of livestock immobilization technology"
posted by dr_dank at 4:59 PM on September 26, 2015 [6 favorites]


I just picked up a pizza at Pizza Villa across the street from that DeKalb barn. My brother got married at Ellwood House, which was built with Barbed Wire money. I grew up just off of Glidden Road. Apart from the fact people still use barbed wire everywhere, that's about the extent of Glidden's legacy in these parts.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:03 PM on September 26, 2015 [5 favorites]


I grew up in DeKalb. Our high school teams were the "Barbs." One out of three houses had a little history-of-barbed-wire display board like this.

You could argue that Manifest Destiny, the whole "taming of the West," and the reason World War I became a bloody war of attrition originates from that Burger King parking lot.

I ate lunch at that Burger King for about half of Senior year of high school. There was definitely a bloody war happening...in my bowels!
posted by jjwiseman at 10:20 PM on September 26, 2015 [3 favorites]


« Older Where's Herb?   |   Recent Windows update breaks SafeDisc DRM Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments