YE A RSO Fl.RO\I/T1 1JosephGlidden'sbarbedwrre
In 1874 anIllinoi sfar me rn amedJosep hGlidd en
patentedan invention .Head vertised it as "st ronger
th anw hiske yan dcheaperth anair." H is in ventio n
p ro vid edp rairiefar m er s withsomet hingth at , in a
land witho u t trees. th ey desperately needed-a
cheap and e fficient fen cin g m aterial. Glidden's
inventionwasbarbedwire.Barbedwire co ns istsoft w o strandso fplainwire
twisted around o ne another, w it h short, sharp
wife s pikes held between them. B y 1890. 100
pounds ofbarbed wirewasbeingsold foronly$4.
Prairiefarmersbou g ht tonsofit tofen ce intheir
land s.
B arbed w i re fences meant that prairie farmers
could plant crops knowing t hat st ray ing canlc
w ouldn ot trampleandca t thegrowing plants.
They could b reed better ani mals knowin g t hat
s t ray bulls could not m ate withth ei rcows.Thev
couidm arkoffth eirbound aries toavo i d q ua rrels
withnei gh bors.Glidden 'sinventio nchangedt hefaceofthe Grea t
Plains. Byth e en dofth e cen tu ry thousands of
milesofbarbe dwire fenceshaddividedtheopen
prameintoa patchworko f se pa rate farmsand
fields.alsocarried aw ay the fanners'crops .Thism adeit
possible fo rth e farm ersto sellrhcirproducein far-
a\vayplaces .Befo re th e end o f thenineteenthccnrurv
w heatgrowno n rhcGreatPlainsofNorth Amenca.
wasfeeding millionsofpeople ,notonly 111 th e
U nitedStatesbutt ho usa nds o f m ilesawayIII
Europe.
But prairiefarmer s still hadproblem s.The
IIomcstcadAct gavc rhcm land..bur it failedtogive
th em asureliving .Onth ewell-wateredlan d s castof
t heMissis sippia farmercould easilys uppo rt a fa m ily
on ahomest eadof160 acres.O n th e rain- star ved
GreatPlainsn o farmercould makea liv in g froma
farmo f th atsize. Hiscropsofwheatwereto os m all:
h is animalsweretoohungry.
Prairie far me rsworkedhard to survive."lhev
ploug hedupandplantedmore lan d .Billifd~erain s
fai led. t he sunburneduptheircropsand the prame
wind sble wawayt heirdustytopsoil.leavingthe
6-l
landpoorer and lesspr od uct ive .Evenw hen eno ug h
rain felllorth ecropstogrowwell.farmerscouldsti ll
beIIItrouble.Insuchyearsth e landproduced so
muchwheatth atth eprices forwhichindividual
farm er sw er e abletosellitweretoolo w tog ivethem
a decemlivi n g.In t helas t th irtyyearsofthe nineteent hcenturysuch
"ovc r-produc no n "becameabigproblem fo r
Americanfarmer s.Itscausewasnoto nlvt h at
farmerswere cultivatingmore land. Im p ro n 'd
agri cu ltu ralmachineswerealsomak ingt heir farms
moreprod u ctiveevcryyear."Gang"ploughsw ith
sev er albladesmadeitpossib letoprt'par emoreland
forsowingmort' quickly.Giantmachinescalled
"combin eh ar vesters"cutandthreshedwheat ma n e
o peratIon.
Farmer sformedpoliticalactiongrou pstot ryto
improv etheirposition.Thegroupswerepart icu larl y
keen to forcerailro adcompaniestoreduceth e hig h
pri cest h at theychargedtotransportfarmers'crops.
T he yin clu d ed thePatrons of'Husbandrv.which was
formed inrhe IH7Us,and thePopulistl'~rtyofth e
189050 .Mem bersofthePatr o nsofl I u sban d rvwere
alsoknown as"Grangers."Thevotingpowero f the
Granger s causedmanywesternstatestopass
"Gran g erlaws. "Theselaws set up gOVt'fnme nt
bo d iestocontrol railroadfreightchargesan d to look
afterfarmers'int erestsinothe r matt ers.
G rang ers alsojoinedtoget her incoope ra tive
SOCiet ies. Someofrhcsccooperativesta iledbecame
the farmerswhoran themlackedbu siness
experience. O t hers surviveeven to day.III many
westernfarmin gcommunitiescoopera tive
or ganizati ons stillcompe tew it h priv atel yowned
firms bothtosupply t hefar mer 'snee d sandto buy
his pro du ce.