FIRST - Practical Barbed Wire - Canyon, TX
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 34° 58.794 W 101° 54.319
14S E 234780 N 3874670
Glidden was from Illinois....
Waymark Code: WM132PD
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 09/03/2020
Views: 0
County of Marker: Randall County
Location of Marker: TX-217 (4th Ave.), E. limits, about 1 mile east of courthouse, near University Auditorium, Canyon
Marker Erected by: State Historical Survey Committee.
Date Marker Erected: 1968
Marker Text:
Site of an
EARLY BARBED WIRE FENCE
In the Panhandle
In the latter 1880s, when fencing was needed in the treeless Texas Panhandle, the solution proved to be barbed wire. Joseph F. Glidden of Illinois devised and by 1876 was manufacturing (with I. L. Ellwood) the
first really practical barbed wire on the market. H. B. Sanborn was sent to Texas as their agent, and remained to become a builder of the Panhandle.
Wanting free access to water and grass, ranchers at first resisted fencing. Cowboys disliked it, as fewer range riders were needed on fenced lands. The old-timers grew bitter, because of blocked trails -- herds had to be hauled rather than driven to market.
Yet, newcomers wanted fencing, in order to have use of land purchased for ranching. Merchants and city-builders wanted fences, to assure settlement.
The T-Anchor, owned by Jot Gunter and William B. Munson, real estate investors of Grayson County, built a line fence on this site in 1881, enclosing a 240,000-acre horse pasture. Also, built in this area, by popular subscription, was a "drift" fence to hold cattle back from wandering south in blue northers and blizzards.
Barbed wire gradually came into general use. It saved the cattle industry, because improvements in breeding and feeding were possible on fenced ranges.
(1968)
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