Joseph Glidden

• Born: January 18, 1813
• Birthplace: Charlestown, New Hampshire
• Died: October 9, 1906
• Place of death: De Kalb county, Illinois

American farmer

Glidden created a convenient fencing system for farmers and ranchers known as barbed wire and a machine to twist it into place. His invention changed the face of the American West by encouraging farming and ranching in enclosed parcels of land and had long-term implications for use in war and imprisonment.

Primary field: Agriculture

Primary invention: Barbed wire

Early Life

Joseph Farwell Glidden was born on January 18, 1813, on a farm in Charlestown, New Hampshire. His parents, David and Polly Glidden, moved to Clarendon, New York, where he attended school. Joseph later studied at the seminary in Lima, New York. In 1837, he married Clarissa Foster. He taught school and threshed grain to support his young family, and in 1842 he purchased a six-hundred-acre farm in De Kalb County, Illinois. Glidden and Clarissa had three children, two boys and a girl, but Clarissa died after giving birth to their daughter. All three children died shortly after they settled in Illinois. In 1851, Glidden married Lucinda Warne. The couple had one daughter, Elva, his only surviving child. Lucinda was rumored to have helped Joseph invent barbed wire.

Life’s Work

For centuries, farmers used fencing to delineate the boundaries of their land and to protect their crops. Fences held livestock and protected them from predatory animals and thieves who might hurt or steal them. Historically, fences were constructed of wood, hedges, and stone. Early American farmers in the East relied mostly on wooden fences to enclose their farms and properties, and western settlers followed suit. However, when settlers faced the challenges of the Great Plains, agricultural technology failed them. In addition to the extreme weather, the lack of water, and the difficulty of cutting through thick prairie sod with iron plows, there was a significant lack of trees. Previous settlers relied heavily on wood to build and heat their homes, cook their meals, and fence in their lands. Without this valuable resource, settlers avoided the Great Plains for decades, and the area gained the nickname the “Great American Desert.”

In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act to encourage western settlement by promising free land to those who worked the property for five years. The invention of the steel plow in 1837 had made cultivating the tough prairie sod easier. Homes were constructed of sod, and twisted prairie grasses and buffalo chips provided fuel for fires, but a low-cost, convenient fencing system was still lacking. Wood could be shipped west by train, but it was expensive to do so. Farmers experimented with wire, but the fences were easily pushed down by the livestock they were trying to contain.

As a farmer for most of his life, Glidden faced the same problems as others of his day. In 1873, he attended a county fair where a wooden fencing system with nail-like projections was displayed. The nail-like projections inspired him to create his own fencing. At his farmhouse, Glidden used a coffee grinder to create barbs, which he then placed on a strand of wire. He locked the barbs in place by wrapping another strand of wire around the barbed one. He strung the barbed wire on his farm along a roadway where neighbors saw it and requested some of the same material. Soon he was in business. On October 27, 1873, Glidden applied for a patent for his improved fencing system; a year later, he filed a patent application for a machine to twist the wire into place. Within days of his first application, challenges were asserted by others who maintained prior claim to the invention, delaying the patent process. Two other men had attended the same fair Glidden attended and professed to the same inspiration. Additionally, previous patents had been granted for similar wire fencing systems. Nevertheless, Glidden’s invention, “Improvement in Wire-Fences,” was granted U.S. Patent number 157,124 on November 24, 1874. Still, court battles continued for almost twenty years until the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Glidden’s favor in 1892.

In the meantime, Glidden tried to keep up with the business orders he received. He joined local hardware store owner Isaac Ellwood to form the Barb Fence Company. Early on, the Barb Fence Company purchased patent rights from some of its competitors. Glidden and Ellwood built a small factory and marketed to farmers throughout the nation. Various methods were employed to spread the word about the new invention, including articles in newspapers, periodicals, and billboards as well as presentations at county fairs. The numerous court cases, though trying, brought valuable publicity to the new product. The company hired traveling salesmen to market in outlying areas with great success. Easy to travel with, and impressive in its simplistic yet practical nature, barbed wire was an easy sell. In 1876, Glidden sold the remaining half interest in his patent to the Washburn and Moen Company, a major wire manufacturer, for $60,000 plus a percentage of royalties, making him a wealthy man. Ellwood joined with the company, which continued to manufacture and sell Glidden’s invention.

Glidden returned to farming and local civic and business activities. He purchased more farmland and invested in businesses, including part or full ownership of the De Kalb National Bank, the Glidden Hotel, and the De Kalb Grist Mill. He continued collecting royalties but remained outside business operations, with the exception of court appearances to secure his patent rights. He served briefly as sheriff and ran the De Kalb Chronicle. After the death of his wife in 1895, he donated sixty-four acres of land and financial resources for the erection of Northern Illinois State Normal School in De Kalb County. The institution later became Northern Illinois University. Glidden died on October 9, 1906.

Impact

The impact of Glidden’s invention was far-reaching. Barbed wire spread rapidly throughout the plains as thousands of farmers contained and protected their livestock and enclosed their fields with the product. Barbed wire was inexpensive and easily obtained and erected. It lasted longer than wood, which was quickly replaced. Washburn and Moen sold millions of pounds of barbed wire annually to farmers throughout the American West.

Boon as it was to the homestead farmer, barbed wire was vilified by others. Cattle owners blamed Glidden’s invention for ending the profitable cattle drives. While some ranchers used the wire to create boundaries for their property, cattlemen on the long drives from Texas reviled it. The cattle drives began in earnest after the end of the Civil War. Longhorn cattle in Texas were rounded up and driven northward across the open range along well-known cattle trails to northern railheads. In cattle towns such as Abilene and Dodge City, ranchers received a higher price for their stock, and railroads quickly transported them to eastern cities. As they moved northward, cowboys relied on the use of public lands, known as the open range, to transport, graze, and water their cattle. Farmers, tired of large herds overrunning their pastures and trampling their crops, erected barbed wire to keep them out.

The newly fenced fields prevented cowboys from accessing grazing pastures and watering holes, forcing them miles out of their way to find alternatives. Barbed wire cost them time and money, and some felt that their freedom to use the open range was not being protected. In addition, there were a few farmers who squatted on public lands and enclosed areas they did not own. With so much of the open range enclosed, it was no longer feasible to walk northward along the previously used trails. Additionally, barbed wire was blamed for a considerable number of cattle deaths during the devastating blizzards of 1886-1887. Cattle seeking shelter from the storms or searching for food ran up against the barbed wire and could go no further. Thousands of cattle carcasses were found piled against the fences when the drifted snows finally cleared.

Referring to barbed wire as the “devil’s rope,” a few westerners felt within their rights to cut the wire fences and continue on through. Fence-cutting raids usually occurred after dark when a small group could destroy a great deal of fence in one evening’s raid. Fence openings allowed livestock to escape and run away. It permitted outside animals to invade crops and predators to attack livestock. Rustlers used the cut fences as an opportunity to steal. Farmers retaliated, sometimes violently, and so-called range wars broke out in the early 1880’s. Men died in a few instances before legislation was passed making fence cutting illegal.

Barbed wire was challenged for possible cruelty to animals. The barbs were intended to hurt animals enough to discourage them from leaning against the fence and make them stay in the enclosures. However, if horses spooked or cattle stampeded, they could run headlong into the fence and cause severe damage to themselves. Hearings were held in a number of states, but the fencing won out, sometimes with the addition of a piece of wood or board to alert livestock of the wire’s existence. Glidden’s barbed wire helped settle the western United States, yet his invention was not confined to the United States or the nineteenth century. The agricultural uses of the fencing continue today.

Bibliography

Krell, Alan. The Devil’s Rope: A Cultural History of Barbed Wire. London: Reaktion Books, 2002. Describes barbed wire’s invention and follows its story through to the twenty-first century. Also discusses its use in propaganda, painting, literature, and photography. Illustrations, photographs, bibliography, index.

McCallum, Henry D., and Frances T. McCallum. The Wire That Fenced the West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. Describes not only barbed wire’s invention but also its marketing and the decades-long patent fight. Illustrations.

Razac, Olivier. Barbed Wire: A Political History. New York: New Press, 2000. Focuses on the effect of the invention of barbed wire on civilizations and social mores. Illustrations, photos, index.