History of the United States II / Unit 2 USH2 0171 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
One Invention Closes an Era
The idea
Joseph Glidden's patented barbed wire let ranchers fence the range cheaply, without lumber. The anchor says it closed the open range to settlers and cowboys alike, and eastern businessmen with capital came to dominate the cattle trade through their control of land and railroads. Digital History adds a second cause: two harsh winters, from eighteen eighty-five to eighteen eighty-seven, followed by two dry summers, killed eighty to ninety percent of the cattle on the range.
In practice
Wire fences crossing land where herds had once moved freely for hundreds of miles, and frozen carcasses after the winters.
Where people slip
The familiar version gives the open range one cause. The sources give two. Fencing made the long drive impossible, and the winters made it ruinous, so ranchers turned to fenced, enclosed herds. Range wars broke out between cattle ranchers, sheep ranchers and farmers as the wire went up.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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