BARBED WIRE - HOW IT CHANGED THE OLD WEST

HISTORY'S TIDBIT - I must have been about eight years old at the time. My brother, a couple of friends and I were hiking across the high desert just north of the border between Arizona and Sonora Mexico when we came to a barbed wire fence that blocked our way. While my brother and one of our friends held the barbed wire apart, thus creating an opening, my other friend managed to maneuver through. Then it was my turn. As I passed through, my shirt caught on one of the barbs, creating a three inch rip through the material. It wasn't the first or last time a hiker got snagged trying to make his way through a barbed wire fence. Sure, barbed wire can constitute a minor hazard for hikers. However, for the cattle barons of the Old West, the introduction of barbed wire held a much more serious threat. It heralded the very end of their way of life. The range wars that followed changed the American West forever. But more about that at a later time.