1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. Tracy, I don't know 4 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: how this subject got on my list. Okay, it's been 5 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:22,959 Speaker 1: there for a while, and it's one of those things 6 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,320 Speaker 1: I keep. We both have talked about keeping lists. I'm 7 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 1: real bad about having two lists going because one is 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,199 Speaker 1: on my phone and one is handwritten. Yeah, And I 9 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:34,879 Speaker 1: was looking at the one on my phone and I 10 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: have scrolled past Joseph Glidden's name many times and then 11 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: I was like, wait, what did he do? And I 12 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: looked it back up, and I'm like, oh, yeah, we 13 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:45,520 Speaker 1: should talk about him. Yeah, because this is a good 14 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: story of how a commonplace item in our world came 15 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 1: to be. It's also an item that's had a lot 16 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: of influence. It's a story with a contentious and lengthy 17 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: legal battle, but the good news is overall this is 18 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 1: a pretty upbeat one. Like the ending of that legal 19 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: battle doesn't, of course play out to everyone's delight, but 20 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: there seems to be a pretty good day New Mont. 21 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: So I thought it would be a good day to 22 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: talk about Joseph Glidden and the invention of barbed wire. 23 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: So Joseph Glidden was born on January eighteenth, eighteen thirteen, 24 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 1: in Charlestown, New Hampshire. His parents were David and Polly 25 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:27,680 Speaker 1: Heard Glidden, and David was a farmer. Eventually the family 26 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: moved to Orleans County, New York. Joseph at that point 27 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: was still a baby this is west of Rochester. As 28 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:39,400 Speaker 1: a boy, he did go to school, although once Joseph 29 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:42,320 Speaker 1: got to his teenage years, he only went for part 30 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: of the year so that he would be available for 31 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: farm work the rest of the time. Yeah, basically he 32 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: was a winter semester only student at that point, and 33 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: when he got older he attended Middlebury Academy in what 34 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: is now Wyoming County, New York, and then he went 35 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: on to Lema, New York for seminary. Joseph his first 36 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 1: career was teaching, and that was something he did for 37 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: several years. But sometime after eighteen thirty four, so when 38 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: he was still in his early twenties, he decided to 39 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: move back to Orleans County, New York and start working 40 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 1: for his father on the family farm. And he stayed 41 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: there doing that for the better part of a decade. 42 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: I have seen accounts that say he was there eight 43 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 1: years and some that mentioned nine. Unclear when he arrived, 44 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:27,239 Speaker 1: so it's hard to say which of those is accurate. 45 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:29,959 Speaker 1: But at the age of twenty four, Gliddon married a 46 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: woman named Clarissa Foster, and over the course of a 47 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: few years, Joseph and Clarissa had two sons together, Virgil 48 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:41,520 Speaker 1: and Homer. In eighteen forty two, as Joseph was approaching thirty, 49 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: he decided to set out on his own again, although 50 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: his brother Josiah was with him. The two of them 51 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:51,840 Speaker 1: traveled west from New York with two threshing machines, and 52 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: they picked up work as they went. After several months 53 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:59,560 Speaker 1: of travel, they landed in Dacab County, Illinois. There the 54 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:03,920 Speaker 1: cannect did with their cousin Russell Huntley. Huntley had some 55 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:07,839 Speaker 1: land to sell, and Joseph was interested. He bought six 56 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: hundred acres from his cousin, and he envisioned that he 57 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: and Clarissa could be raising a family there. Clarissa had 58 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,320 Speaker 1: stayed behind in New York while Joseph had sought out 59 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,119 Speaker 1: the place they would settle, and in eighteen forty three, 60 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: she joined her husband in Illinois, and while this should 61 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: have been the start of a really happy time in 62 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:30,640 Speaker 1: their lives, tragedy soon struck. Clarissa and Joseph had a 63 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,400 Speaker 1: third child in the summer of eighteen forty six, but 64 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: Clarissa died in childbirth. The daughter that she had delivered 65 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: was also named Clarissa, just to make things a little 66 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:44,600 Speaker 1: bit confusing, but little Clarissa's life was pretty short. According 67 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 1: to some accounts, all three of Joseph's children died in 68 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: an epidemic, and if that was the case, it seems 69 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:53,840 Speaker 1: like the most likely culprit would have been cholera, which 70 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 1: hit Illinois quite hard in the late eighteen forties. Joseph 71 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: remarried to a woman named Lucinda Worn on October sixth, 72 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:05,480 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty. Lucenda was born in eighteen twenty six in 73 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 1: Mount Pleasant, New Jersey. Her family had moved to Illinois 74 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:11,880 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty seven and opened a tavern called the 75 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:16,600 Speaker 1: Halfway House, which also served as the post office of Elburn, Illinois, 76 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,599 Speaker 1: where the family lived. That was with Lucenda's father, Henry Warren, 77 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:25,559 Speaker 1: as postmaster. In December of eighteen fifty one, a little 78 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: Over a year after the wedding, Joseph and Lucenda welcomed 79 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:33,039 Speaker 1: a daughter named Elva Francis. At this point, there was 80 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: a Decab county in Illinois, but no incorporated city, although 81 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:39,839 Speaker 1: there were certainly hopes on the parts of the people 82 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 1: that lived there that the area would grow and eventually 83 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:47,479 Speaker 1: have a more centralized presence. Joseph became very involved in 84 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: his community, and in eighteen fifty two he ran for 85 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:54,480 Speaker 1: county sheriff and won. He also helped the railroad out 86 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:58,799 Speaker 1: when the Galena and Chicago Union Line wanted to build. Joseph, 87 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:01,800 Speaker 1: seeing this as an op opportunity to continue to grow 88 00:05:01,839 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 1: the area, let them cross the railroad through his property 89 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:08,760 Speaker 1: at its southern end, and he and Lucinda allegedly greeted 90 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:11,040 Speaker 1: the first train crew that came through once the line 91 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:14,119 Speaker 1: was complete, and even served them breakfast in their home. 92 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,919 Speaker 1: The city of Dacab incorporated as a village four years 93 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 1: after Glidden's election to the office of sheriff, and it 94 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: was another two decades after that before it became a city, 95 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: But through it all Glidden was a leader within the community. 96 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:31,919 Speaker 1: After serving as sheriff, he was on the county's Board 97 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: of Supervisors, and in eighteen sixty one Glidden built a 98 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:38,480 Speaker 1: new home, upgrading from the log cabin he and Lucinda 99 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,600 Speaker 1: and Elva had lived in for years. This is a 100 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: tiny detail, but we're noting it because it's something we're 101 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 1: going to come back to. In eighteen seventy three, it's 102 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:52,080 Speaker 1: reported that Glidden saw a type of barbed fencing at 103 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,880 Speaker 1: the DCAB County Fair. The version on display had been 104 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:59,719 Speaker 1: created by another farmer, Henry Rose, and it featured metal 105 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: bar herbs that were embedded in flat wooden blocks. The 106 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:07,200 Speaker 1: details on this are different per different people's accounts, but 107 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 1: basically some of them say it's they're square blocks about 108 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:13,160 Speaker 1: two inches square, with a sharp end sticking out of 109 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 1: each wooden block. Some of them describe them more as 110 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 1: longer slats, but either way, these small pieces of wood 111 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: were then attached to wire that was strung between posts, 112 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,000 Speaker 1: and this was all designed to keep cattle from leaning 113 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:27,919 Speaker 1: up against the fence and toppling it. It was a 114 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: good idea, but Glidden thought he could improve upon it, 115 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: and just as a brief aside. According to a Tulsa 116 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:37,839 Speaker 1: World right up from nineteen fifty two, so long after 117 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: this all happened. Glidden was partially inspired by having heard 118 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:45,720 Speaker 1: about cactus fences in the Southwest, and he wanted to 119 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:48,440 Speaker 1: incorporate that idea into what he might do with a 120 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:52,039 Speaker 1: fence like this. It's completely unclear where that detail came 121 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: from or if it has any kernel of truth to it, 122 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:59,839 Speaker 1: but I just thought it was interesting. The main issues 123 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 1: that Glidden saw with the wooden barbed fence were that 124 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:08,279 Speaker 1: it was costly, timber was not exactly abundant in the 125 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:12,440 Speaker 1: Plaine States, and also it wasn't all that sturdy. So 126 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:15,600 Speaker 1: he started thinking about ways to develop something that had 127 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: the same benefit of keeping the cattle from it, but 128 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: addressed those two weaknesses in the design. One of the 129 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 1: first things he recognized was that the barbs which stuck 130 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: out of the wood in roses design, would be more 131 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:33,680 Speaker 1: effective if they were attached directly to the wire. According 132 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: to Lare, which is based on an account that Glidden's wife, Lucinda, 133 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:42,080 Speaker 1: gave many years later, she started noticing that her hairpins 134 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:45,480 Speaker 1: were going missing, and then she initially thought it was 135 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 1: their daughter stealing them, but then one day she saw 136 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,520 Speaker 1: her husband just casually pull one from his pocket. When 137 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: she asked what he was doing. He told her that 138 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:56,560 Speaker 1: he was using them to figure out his fence design, 139 00:07:57,360 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: so he started working with fencewayer once he had this 140 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: design idea, which was to twist small, sharpened lengths of 141 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:07,000 Speaker 1: wire into coils that could then be strung on two 142 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 1: longer lengths of wire to create fencing. Forming those coils 143 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: was a challenge though. If you've ever tried to coil 144 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: a piece of thick wire in a uniform way, even 145 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:23,160 Speaker 1: with players, you know that could be tricky. He ended 146 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 1: up getting a blacksmith friend named Phineas Vaughn involved, and 147 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: Phineas helped figure out an easy way to produce these 148 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: small coiled barbs in quantity, and so Glinton applied for 149 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: and received a patent for his wire on May twelfth 150 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: of eighteen seventy four. But though his coiled barbs were effective, 151 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:50,400 Speaker 1: another problem presented itself. The coils could be strung onto 152 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: longer lengths of wire pretty easily, but then keeping them 153 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 1: in place that was another matter. Imagining just all the 154 00:08:58,559 --> 00:09:02,600 Speaker 1: little barbs widing and collecting in one point on the wire. 155 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 1: But at some point Glidden hit upon the idea of 156 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:09,480 Speaker 1: twisting the wire so there would be the wire that 157 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:13,440 Speaker 1: had the barbs strung onto it twisted along with the 158 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:17,200 Speaker 1: other wire, and those two wires together would keep the 159 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:21,000 Speaker 1: barbs in place. He started working on another patent application. 160 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:24,400 Speaker 1: His next patent was issued on November twenty fourth, eighteen 161 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:28,280 Speaker 1: seventy four. It was patent number one five seven one 162 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:31,680 Speaker 1: two four for the type of barbed wire that Gliden 163 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 1: called the winner. The following month, he and Phineas Vaughan 164 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:39,040 Speaker 1: received a patent for the machinery they had developed to 165 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,960 Speaker 1: produce this wire. In the first gear that Glidden held 166 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,200 Speaker 1: this patent, he produced thirty two miles or fifty one 167 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: kilometers worth of barbed wire. His initial method of manufacturer 168 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:55,319 Speaker 1: used a horse to drive the twisting machinery. That might 169 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 1: sound odd to today's ear, but that's like That's also 170 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:03,640 Speaker 1: how rope was produced, not a brand new idea. He 171 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:08,000 Speaker 1: eventually entered into a partnership with hardware store owner Isaac L. 172 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:12,640 Speaker 1: Elwood to create manufacturing facilities. Elwood had been working on 173 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:15,440 Speaker 1: his own barbed wire design and even filed a patent 174 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:18,360 Speaker 1: for it, but once they were business partners, he backed 175 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: Glidden's coil and double wire design. Coming up, we'll talk 176 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:25,880 Speaker 1: about some of the ways that Joseph Glidden marketed his invention. 177 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:38,800 Speaker 1: But first we'll pause for a quick sponsor break. Joseph 178 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 1: Glidden had very wisely recognized that he couldn't sell his 179 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:46,679 Speaker 1: wire fencing across the country himself, so he created a 180 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: sales network basically where he had been. He showed it 181 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:53,480 Speaker 1: to his neighbors and they got the idea that it 182 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:55,560 Speaker 1: was a good thing, so they started buying it, and 183 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:58,679 Speaker 1: he thought he could replicate that in other communities, So 184 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:01,560 Speaker 1: he hired men from within the communities he wanted to 185 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:04,600 Speaker 1: sell to, and he had them act as his agents 186 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:07,520 Speaker 1: in that area, with each agent kind of having their 187 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:12,520 Speaker 1: own territory. This localized distribution gained the interest and trust 188 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:15,200 Speaker 1: of a lot of farmers, and sales really started to 189 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: take off. By eighteen eighty, for example, the facility was 190 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 1: making two hundred and sixty three thousand miles it's about 191 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:25,720 Speaker 1: four hundred twenty three thousand kilometers of Glidden wire every year. 192 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:30,280 Speaker 1: Another way that Glidden expanded his reach was to build 193 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 1: an example of how well the fencing worked. In eighteen 194 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:37,680 Speaker 1: eighty one, he invested in land in Grayson County, Texas, 195 00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:41,360 Speaker 1: in a partnership with Henry B. Sanborn, who already owned 196 00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 1: two thousand acres there, and the reason for this was 197 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:47,560 Speaker 1: that while Texas had a large number of ranchers, it 198 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:51,480 Speaker 1: had been slow to embrace barbed wire. For one, people 199 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:56,640 Speaker 1: saw it as a Yankee invention and therefore suspicious. For another, 200 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: Texas was mostly run with an open range cattle driving method, 201 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:03,720 Speaker 1: so all the cattle would be out in the range 202 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:05,679 Speaker 1: and then driven back to another place at the right 203 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: time of the year. There were also concerns that the 204 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:12,440 Speaker 1: barbed wire would kill more cattle than it could contain, 205 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:16,560 Speaker 1: so the Glidden and Sanborn project was meant to give 206 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: ranchers an example of just how beneficial barbed fencing could be. 207 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 1: Glidden and Sanborn had the property fenced off with barbed 208 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:29,439 Speaker 1: wire and they named it Frying Pan Ranch. Sanborn incidentally 209 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:33,760 Speaker 1: was married to Glidden's niece. Glidden and Sanborn had fifteen 210 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:36,240 Speaker 1: thousand head of cattle brought to the ranch to show 211 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:39,440 Speaker 1: how large an operation they were able to manage thanks 212 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 1: to the use of Glidden's fencing, and it really worked. 213 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:46,200 Speaker 1: The Texas market caught on and boomed as ranchers sought 214 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:49,560 Speaker 1: to duplicate the success of the frying pan ranch setup. 215 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: Glidden and his competitors probably did not anticipate the impact 216 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: of barbed wire on the shaping of the United States. 217 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:02,679 Speaker 1: This was at a time when the Homestead Act was 218 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:06,240 Speaker 1: enabling people to lay claim to land in the North 219 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:10,040 Speaker 1: American West. That land, of course, was already home to 220 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:13,520 Speaker 1: indigenous people. We have previous episodes where we've talked about 221 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:16,960 Speaker 1: this Act and how it came to be. Barbed Wire 222 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 1: gave homesteaders a way to clearly delineate their claimed land, 223 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 1: but it also obviously disrupted traveling and the grazing practices 224 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:31,320 Speaker 1: of livestock. This so this is affecting both indigenous people 225 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:35,080 Speaker 1: and ranchers who were accustomed to letting livestock just move 226 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 1: through the land unhindered. This also gave homesteaders the confidence 227 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:45,559 Speaker 1: to claim that indigenous tribes were not developing the land 228 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,800 Speaker 1: and thus had no right to it. So we would 229 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:52,120 Speaker 1: have like a rancher who had fenced off their land 230 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 1: saying that the Native American people nearby had not developed 231 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:59,839 Speaker 1: their land. This obviously was a faulty notion, rooted in 232 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,640 Speaker 1: the idea that white homesteaders knew better about the land 233 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:07,080 Speaker 1: than the peoples who had lived there for generations. The 234 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:11,280 Speaker 1: fencing also impacted wildlife, which could easily get caught in 235 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:15,959 Speaker 1: it and be injured or die. He already mentioned disrupting 236 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:22,080 Speaker 1: animal migrations. Yeah, there's a lot all of those issues, 237 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 1: though didn't really directly impact Glidden. But he had his 238 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,960 Speaker 1: own legal battles to fight regarding his patent. He had 239 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: a challenge to his claim that he had invented barbed wire. 240 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:36,240 Speaker 1: To be clear, he was certainly not the first person 241 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:38,520 Speaker 1: to think of it. That's obvious by the fact that 242 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:42,000 Speaker 1: he was inspired by Henry Rose's barbed fence idea at 243 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 1: the Decab County Fair, and he wasn't even the first 244 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:48,440 Speaker 1: person to patent it. Rose had a patent, so did 245 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 1: a man named Michael Kelly of New York, who had 246 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: an eighteen sixty eight patent for a fence that included 247 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:57,360 Speaker 1: a flatwire almost like a ribbon, that had barbs inserted 248 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:00,560 Speaker 1: through holes in it. He called that thorny fence, and 249 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:03,160 Speaker 1: there had also been a lot of other patent applications 250 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:06,440 Speaker 1: filed for fences with some sort of thorn or barbed attached, 251 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:10,760 Speaker 1: literally dozens of them. But the main challenger to Gliddon's 252 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:13,560 Speaker 1: claim of invention was a man who had been to 253 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:18,320 Speaker 1: the very same county fair, that was Jacob Hash. In fact, 254 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:22,680 Speaker 1: according to Isaac Elwood, these men, along with himself, had 255 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:27,920 Speaker 1: looked at Rosa's barbed fence together. He recalled many years later, quote, 256 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy three, we had a little county fair 257 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,360 Speaker 1: down here where the normal school now stands, and a 258 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:36,920 Speaker 1: man by the name of Rose, that lived in Clinton, 259 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:40,360 Speaker 1: exhibited at that fair a strip of wood about an 260 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:44,400 Speaker 1: inch square and about sixteen feet long, and drove into 261 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:48,040 Speaker 1: his wood some sharp brads, leaving the points sticking out, 262 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:50,560 Speaker 1: for the purpose of hanging it on a smooth wire, 263 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,800 Speaker 1: which was the principal fencing material at that time. This 264 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: strip of wood, so armed to hang on the wire 265 00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:01,600 Speaker 1: was to stop the cattle from crawling through t Mister Glidden, 266 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:04,400 Speaker 1: mister Hash, and myself were at that fair, and all 267 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:07,960 Speaker 1: three of us stood looking at this invention of mister Rose's, 268 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 1: and I think that each one of us at that 269 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:14,240 Speaker 1: hour conceived the idea that barbes could be placed on 270 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:18,080 Speaker 1: the wire in some way instead of being driven into 271 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:22,040 Speaker 1: the strip of wood. Mister Glidden, mister Hash, and myself 272 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,920 Speaker 1: each one returned to our places of business with an 273 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:30,800 Speaker 1: idea of constructing a barb wire. Mister Hash made what 274 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:34,080 Speaker 1: is known as the Hash barb and mister Glidden what 275 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: is known as the Glidden barb. So Glidden and Hash 276 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:41,080 Speaker 1: obviously knew each other. They lived in a very tiny 277 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 1: town with fewer than sixteen hundred people, and Hash, who 278 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:47,840 Speaker 1: was a carpenter, had actually been the contractor who built 279 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:50,880 Speaker 1: Glidden's house in eighteen sixty one that we mentioned earlier. 280 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: They clearly had a relationship. Jacob Hash was born in 281 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,800 Speaker 1: Germany in eighteen twenty six, and then his family had 282 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:00,720 Speaker 1: moved to the US and settled in Ohio when Jacob 283 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:03,480 Speaker 1: was still a boy. He moved to Illinois at the 284 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,920 Speaker 1: age of nineteen and then to Decab, Illinois, specifically several 285 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: years later in eighteen fifty three. Hayesh had learned carpentry 286 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:13,439 Speaker 1: from his father growing up, and he had set up 287 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:18,119 Speaker 1: his own carpentry business into Cab. The timelines of Glidden's 288 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:22,760 Speaker 1: and Hash's work on barbed wire fencing were very parallel. Hash, 289 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:25,440 Speaker 1: according to his own account, had come up with his 290 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:29,119 Speaker 1: version in September of eighteen seventy three, but didn't file 291 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:32,000 Speaker 1: for a patent on it until December, about a month 292 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: after Glidden received his patent. Hash's barb is different from Glidden's, 293 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:41,919 Speaker 1: so where Glidden opted for a coiled barb, Hash's was 294 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:46,480 Speaker 1: shaped into an exaggerated sort of sharp s curve. Hash 295 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:49,359 Speaker 1: also had two twisted wires to keep his in place, 296 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:53,359 Speaker 1: and those wires nested into the interior curves on the 297 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:57,320 Speaker 1: s on either side to keep the barbs in place. Now, 298 00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:01,080 Speaker 1: there is some inconsistency in accounts about how things played 299 00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:03,760 Speaker 1: out from here in terms of how these two men 300 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:06,920 Speaker 1: got along. For example, there's an account by Hayes where 301 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,480 Speaker 1: he's like, we got along fine until eighteen seventy six. 302 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,320 Speaker 1: But on June twenty fifth of eighteen seventy four, Hash, 303 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:17,840 Speaker 1: after receiving his patent, filed an article of infringement to 304 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:22,240 Speaker 1: stop Glidden's patent rights, and this catalyzed a legal tangle 305 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:26,520 Speaker 1: that played out over the course of eighteen years. Joseph 306 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:29,960 Speaker 1: Glidden managed to largely stay out of the legal fray 307 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:33,159 Speaker 1: because by the spring of eighteen seventy six, so just 308 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 1: a couple of years from the time he applied for 309 00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:38,439 Speaker 1: his very first patent, he decided he didn't want to 310 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:41,399 Speaker 1: be part of the manufacture of his barbed wire anymore. 311 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:45,160 Speaker 1: He sold his half of the Glidden Ellwood Wire Company 312 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: to Washburn Mowen Company for sixty thousand dollars, but he 313 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:52,280 Speaker 1: kept royalty rights for the wire, and that kept money 314 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:55,000 Speaker 1: flowing in. And you may recall that just a little 315 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:57,520 Speaker 1: while ago we talked about him starting his ranch in 316 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,440 Speaker 1: Texas in the early eighteen eighties, which we have been 317 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:02,959 Speaker 1: after this, and that's because even though he wasn't an 318 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:05,840 Speaker 1: owner in the production company anymore, he still had a 319 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 1: very keen interest in the success of his invention because 320 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:12,720 Speaker 1: those royalties were making him a lot of money. As 321 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:16,280 Speaker 1: the legal battle was heating up, a short book appeared 322 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:21,720 Speaker 1: titled The Utility, Efficiency and Economy of barb Fence. A 323 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:24,960 Speaker 1: Book for the Farmer, the gardener, and the country Gentleman. 324 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:28,679 Speaker 1: This seventy four page booklet, which came out in eighteen 325 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:33,040 Speaker 1: seventy six, was published by Washburn and Mowen Manufacturing Company 326 00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:38,439 Speaker 1: and Illwood and Company. This booklet is clearly intended to 327 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:42,080 Speaker 1: establish the narrative that Washburn, Mowen and Elwood are the 328 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:46,399 Speaker 1: rightful producers of barbed wire. It opens by noting that 329 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:50,280 Speaker 1: Washburn and Mowen Company had been selling plane wire fences 330 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:52,920 Speaker 1: for more than twenty five years, but that for all 331 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:58,119 Speaker 1: their benefits, cost effectiveness and fire resistance, there were flaws 332 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 1: and it thus the need for barb wire. The booklet 333 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:05,960 Speaker 1: calls out the invention work of William D. Hunt, Michael Kelly, 334 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:10,040 Speaker 1: and Joseph Glindon, and then notes that their business now 335 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:14,680 Speaker 1: owns all of those patents. There are even illustrations, one 336 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:17,920 Speaker 1: of which shows several cattle outside of an enclosed crop, 337 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:22,160 Speaker 1: with the caption quote, barb fence protects the most tempting 338 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:26,679 Speaker 1: crops from the most unruly cattle. I love the phrase 339 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:30,440 Speaker 1: unruly cattle. Yeah, it's a little far side. It makes 340 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:34,760 Speaker 1: me conjure images of like rebellious cows. This book is 341 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: also part sales device. It outlines the various costs and 342 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:42,000 Speaker 1: the rates and usage cases for barbed wire, but there 343 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:45,439 Speaker 1: is also an entire section called patent claims, and it 344 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,919 Speaker 1: opens this way quote, we briefly enumerate the features of 345 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 1: barb fence and barbs The two companies named regard themselves 346 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:57,800 Speaker 1: as exclusively entitled to manufacture, and then this section lists 347 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:00,960 Speaker 1: all of the various patents they hold with the specific 348 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 1: language of the patents that sets them apart from previous inventions, 349 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:06,879 Speaker 1: and then the rest of the book is filled with 350 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:10,920 Speaker 1: testimonials from happy customers. So this entire thing is very 351 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 1: obviously a PR publication. In a moment, we'll talk more 352 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: about the legal conflict over the patent rights to produce 353 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:21,840 Speaker 1: barbed wire, but first we'll hear from the sponsors that 354 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:35,560 Speaker 1: keep stuff you missed in history class going. Unsurprisingly, given 355 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,880 Speaker 1: the booklet that we mentioned just before the break, the 356 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:43,280 Speaker 1: Washburn and Mowen Company and Isaac Elwood went all in 357 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:46,480 Speaker 1: on the legal battle over patent rights. In the fall 358 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 1: of eighteen seventy six. They sued Hash, and their efforts 359 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:53,400 Speaker 1: were sweeping, invoking multiple other patents that they had acquired 360 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:57,040 Speaker 1: cutting deals that gave their original patent holders a share 361 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,000 Speaker 1: of sales. According to a write up in the chaoz 362 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 1: Ayago Tribune, the bill filed by Glidden's colleagues was to 363 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 1: quote restrain him from him being Hash was to quote 364 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 1: restrain him from infringing a patent for new and useful 365 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:15,399 Speaker 1: improvement in weier fences, issued July twenty third, eighteen sixty 366 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:19,480 Speaker 1: seven to William Hunt reissued March seventh, eighteen seventy six, 367 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:23,760 Speaker 1: and subsequently assigned to complainants. The same company filed a 368 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:26,960 Speaker 1: similar bill against the same defendant to restrain him from 369 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:30,000 Speaker 1: infringing a patent for an improvement in barbed fence wire's 370 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:34,520 Speaker 1: issued February eighth, eighteen sixty eight to Michael Kelly, reissued 371 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:39,159 Speaker 1: February eighteen seventy six and assigned to the complainants. The 372 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,359 Speaker 1: legal battle between the Hash design and the Glidden design, 373 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:45,600 Speaker 1: which was very complicated by the sales of patent rights 374 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,480 Speaker 1: and company interests over the years, wasn't settled until eighteen 375 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:53,000 Speaker 1: ninety two, when the US Supreme Court finally settled the 376 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,960 Speaker 1: matter in favor of the Glidden patents. In the end, 377 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: the biggest element that landed the decision in five favor 378 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:04,239 Speaker 1: of the Glidden patent was his thoroughness in establishing a 379 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:08,520 Speaker 1: method of operation. The court noted that no one could 380 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 1: claim that Glidden hadn't made quote a most valuable contribution 381 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:16,159 Speaker 1: to the art of wire fencing in the introduction of 382 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:20,480 Speaker 1: the coiled barb, in combination with the twisted wire by 383 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,960 Speaker 1: which it is clamped and held in position. By this device, 384 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:27,399 Speaker 1: the barb was prevented from turning or moving laterally, and 385 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:32,160 Speaker 1: was held rigidly in place. The judgment further noted quote, 386 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 1: under such circumstances, courts have not been reluctant to sustain 387 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:38,920 Speaker 1: a patent to the man who has taken the final 388 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,600 Speaker 1: step which has turned a failure into a success. In 389 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:47,200 Speaker 1: the law of patents, it is the last step that wins. Yeah. 390 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:50,560 Speaker 1: They really talk about how his language includes like exactly 391 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:53,879 Speaker 1: how to make the wire, whereas Haiti's and some of 392 00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:55,760 Speaker 1: the others are like, and then you strike it with 393 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:59,119 Speaker 1: a hammer, and they're like, that's too nebulous, whereas his 394 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:02,440 Speaker 1: is very, very dear in the middle of the many 395 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:06,280 Speaker 1: suits and legal steps along the way. Hash also wrote 396 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:09,639 Speaker 1: a pamphlet telling his side of the story in eighteen eighty, 397 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 1: which was titled A Reminiscent Chapter from the Unwritten History 398 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:17,240 Speaker 1: of Barbed Wire Prior to and immediately following the celebrated 399 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:22,520 Speaker 1: decision of Judge Blodgett December fifteenth, eighteen eighty. In this book, 400 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,199 Speaker 1: Hash makes clear that he feels that his work on 401 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:29,280 Speaker 1: barbed wire was much more serious than Gliddon's writing quote, 402 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,960 Speaker 1: while Uncle Joe was working in his pasture lot winding 403 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,439 Speaker 1: his experimental wire on an empty nail keg twisting it 404 00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:40,040 Speaker 1: as best he could. I had transformed the second story 405 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,240 Speaker 1: of my carpenter shop, a building about forty feet long, 406 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:47,440 Speaker 1: into a barbed wire factory. Having invented a twisting device 407 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,000 Speaker 1: as well as a spool same as used today, and 408 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,800 Speaker 1: small hand machines to form a straight piece of wire 409 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:58,320 Speaker 1: into the form of a letter S, I commenced operations. 410 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:02,760 Speaker 1: Hash also claimed and his pamphlet that Charles F. Washburn 411 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:05,639 Speaker 1: had approached him first with an offer to buy the 412 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:09,400 Speaker 1: patent for the S curve barbed wire, but the two 413 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:13,000 Speaker 1: men could not agree on a price. According to hash Quote, 414 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,399 Speaker 1: the final outcome of this visit was a willingness to buy. 415 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,159 Speaker 1: The question of patents was fully entered into, with his 416 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:23,600 Speaker 1: summing up that they were a bugbear to many. It 417 00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:25,840 Speaker 1: was up to me to make an offer, which I did. 418 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:29,240 Speaker 1: The price was two hundred thousand dollars. It would have 419 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:33,320 Speaker 1: been cheap at that Washburn had offered him only twenty 420 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:38,000 Speaker 1: five thousand dollars. Not long after, Washburn struck the sixty 421 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:42,000 Speaker 1: thousand dollars deal with Glidden. Hayesh releat is the way 422 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:45,719 Speaker 1: that things next shifted in his dealings with Washburn. Quote, 423 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:49,680 Speaker 1: but what of mister Washburn, Well, he was heard from 424 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 1: later on when notice was served on poor Lone Jacob 425 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:57,159 Speaker 1: by the United States Marshal to show cause for peaceably 426 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:02,200 Speaker 1: pursuing a legitimate business under protection of patents granted by 427 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,520 Speaker 1: the United States government. I had yet to learn that 428 00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:08,720 Speaker 1: patents which had not been adjudicated in the courts were 429 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:12,879 Speaker 1: oftentimes a broken read upon which to lean. Allow me 430 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:15,920 Speaker 1: to say just here that among the first patents granted 431 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:19,040 Speaker 1: me was one showing iron posts with a section of 432 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: woven wire stretched between them, identically the same fence now 433 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:29,000 Speaker 1: called the elwood woven wire queer. How some things come about, 434 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:32,119 Speaker 1: isn't it? Yeah? That whole book is very much like 435 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:35,200 Speaker 1: I did all these things. They just wrote it up more. 436 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:42,160 Speaker 1: It's I can't understand its frustration. Haysh clearly sees his 437 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,400 Speaker 1: pamphlet as the same sort of document as the booklet 438 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:47,640 Speaker 1: that was produced by Washburn and Mowen just a few 439 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:51,240 Speaker 1: years earlier. The end of it contains a section headed 440 00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 1: as summary, and in it he lays out his case 441 00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:57,320 Speaker 1: to claim the invention of barbed wire. Quote. The s 442 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:01,000 Speaker 1: barb was my invention and the first precal and commercially 443 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:05,679 Speaker 1: successful barbwire. Introduced. One of my early patents shows the 444 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,840 Speaker 1: first iron post for field fence with a section of 445 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:12,639 Speaker 1: woven wear. I had an operation the first twisting and 446 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:15,880 Speaker 1: spooling device I sent out to the trade the first 447 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:19,800 Speaker 1: wooden spool on which barbwire is wound. No change since 448 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:24,400 Speaker 1: I secured the first dipping paint for barbedwire. I introduced 449 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:28,760 Speaker 1: the first automatic barbwire machinery. The principles involved in my 450 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 1: hand machines for twisting, spooling, and putting on the barbs 451 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 1: were the same as now used in all automatic barb 452 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:39,160 Speaker 1: wire machinery. I introduced a new era in the methods 453 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:43,119 Speaker 1: of advertising which are in vogue today. Have I done 454 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 1: my share? It seems entirely likely that the legal battles 455 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:52,280 Speaker 1: contributed to Gliddon's desire to sell his steak in the 456 00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:56,000 Speaker 1: company in eighteen seventy six, but he was also busy 457 00:27:56,040 --> 00:28:00,159 Speaker 1: with other projects that may have factored into the decisions. 458 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:03,320 Speaker 1: A hotel that same year, the Glidden House Hotel on 459 00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:07,879 Speaker 1: Dacab's Second Street, where it crossed Lincoln Highway. In February 460 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,680 Speaker 1: of eighteen seventy seven, Joseph and Lucinda's daughter Elva, got 461 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 1: married to William Henry Bush Junior. Glidden gave the newlyweds 462 00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:19,800 Speaker 1: his eight hundred acre farm property, and he and Lucinda 463 00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:23,600 Speaker 1: moved into town to live at the hotel. The Bushes 464 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:27,440 Speaker 1: didn't live on the farm, though William had a business 465 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:31,119 Speaker 1: in Chicago and they lived there. Glidden was living in 466 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,879 Speaker 1: town and also set his sights on being a newsman. 467 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:37,080 Speaker 1: In the summer of eighteen seventy nine, he started publishing 468 00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: the Dacab Chronicle. He also established a bank in town 469 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 1: in the early eighteen eighties. All of these shifts, with 470 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:48,720 Speaker 1: the exception of the bank, happened before the frying Pan 471 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:52,920 Speaker 1: Ranch project, and even once he was invested in the ranch, 472 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:55,880 Speaker 1: he still had never been there. He didn't visit the 473 00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:59,400 Speaker 1: ranch until eighteen eighty four. Part of the land of 474 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:03,560 Speaker 1: the ranch became the seat of Amerlo, Texas, and Joseph 475 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:06,440 Speaker 1: visited in eighteen eighty seven to be part of its establishment. 476 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:10,360 Speaker 1: He eventually dissolved his partnership with Sanborn and gave his 477 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:14,520 Speaker 1: son in law the Texas property as well. So here 478 00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:17,840 Speaker 1: is an interesting twist in the Glidden and Hash relationship 479 00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:20,959 Speaker 1: in the mid eighteen nineties. They came together in the 480 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:24,320 Speaker 1: interest of education. There was this big effort in the 481 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:27,560 Speaker 1: eighteen nineties to establish a normal school, meaning a teacher 482 00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 1: training school into Cab, Illinois, and both Glidden and Hash 483 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:36,719 Speaker 1: were instrumental in making it happen financially. Glidden donated sixty 484 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 1: four acres to the facility, and at the suggestion of Hash, 485 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:42,800 Speaker 1: Glidden was the one to break ground on it. And 486 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: I love this little detail. He used a pencil to 487 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,000 Speaker 1: break ground as a symbol of the importance of knowledge 488 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,720 Speaker 1: and education. And it seems that the two men, who 489 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:55,760 Speaker 1: both became very wealthy, successful leaders in the community, were 490 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:59,360 Speaker 1: not holding grudges from those long legal battles. The normal 491 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:02,880 Speaker 1: school that they both helped pay for into Cab eventually 492 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:08,200 Speaker 1: became Northern Illinois University. Joseph Glidden died on October ninth, 493 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:12,160 Speaker 1: nineteen oh six, and was buried in Fairview Cemetery, into Cab. 494 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:16,000 Speaker 1: He was ninety three and he'd built a business empire 495 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:19,320 Speaker 1: in his life. He had lost his wife Lucenda in 496 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:22,840 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety five and his daughter Elva earlier in nineteen 497 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: oh six. In his will, he left twenty two thousand 498 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,000 Speaker 1: dollars to the city of dacab to build a free hospital. 499 00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:32,640 Speaker 1: He left an additional five thousand dollars for funding two 500 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:37,280 Speaker 1: free hospital wards, which were the Lucenda Warned Glidden Room 501 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:42,360 Speaker 1: and the Elva Glidden Bush Room. Hash outlived his rival 502 00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:46,120 Speaker 1: and collaborator by a considerable number of years. He died 503 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:48,760 Speaker 1: in early nineteen twenty six, just shy of his one 504 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:52,760 Speaker 1: hundredth birthday. He left or reported one hundred fifty thousand 505 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 1: dollars earmarked for a public library. That library was built 506 00:30:56,560 --> 00:31:00,920 Speaker 1: and still exists today as the Hash Memorial Library. These 507 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:03,760 Speaker 1: twenty two thousand dollars for a hospital and one hundred 508 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:07,479 Speaker 1: and fifty thousand dollars for a library are sounds so quaint, 509 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:16,200 Speaker 1: that's incredibly quaint, So okay. In early nineteen oh six, 510 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:19,400 Speaker 1: a write up about barbed wire in the Belvidere Daily 511 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:23,280 Speaker 1: Republican details the story of Glyndon, Elwood and Hash and 512 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 1: paints a picture of the three men that's pretty frank 513 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:30,000 Speaker 1: about their conflicts, but also manages to honor all of them. 514 00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:34,080 Speaker 1: That rite up concludes with the following paragraph quote the 515 00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:38,040 Speaker 1: three patriarchs Joseph, Jacob and Isaac are all living into 516 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:41,480 Speaker 1: cab at peace with one another, and all equally beloved 517 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:44,160 Speaker 1: by the townspeople who know that it was the three 518 00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 1: who made the town famous. When Joseph, Jacob, and Isaac 519 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:51,200 Speaker 1: get together at a birthday celebration or other function, they 520 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:55,320 Speaker 1: pitch bouquets at each other around the banquet board, while Rose, 521 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:59,200 Speaker 1: who put the first idea in their heads, is gone 522 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:02,680 Speaker 1: and is for God. I love that. In the end, 523 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:05,560 Speaker 1: they were all like, listen, we're all wealthy and successful. 524 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:08,520 Speaker 1: Can we just hang and be buddies, Like we're just 525 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:12,280 Speaker 1: old dudes who have shaped this town. And they were like, yeah, 526 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:15,840 Speaker 1: let's see that. Yeah, which to me is interesting because 527 00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 1: we have talked so many times on the show about 528 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:25,560 Speaker 1: patent rivalries, right how there's obviously so much indignation and 529 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:28,560 Speaker 1: hurt feelings in there that most people never get over 530 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:31,360 Speaker 1: that hump. And they were all just like, I don't know, 531 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:35,600 Speaker 1: I got rich anyway, It's fine, it's fine, it's a delight. 532 00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 1: I have really really cute email. And I mean okay 533 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 1: in a very flattering way and not a pejorative way. 534 00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:47,480 Speaker 1: Sometimes cute kids. He's like, oh that's cute. This is 535 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:52,480 Speaker 1: not that This is legitimately the cutest email. The subject 536 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:57,840 Speaker 1: line is you want Corvid photos and our listener did 537 00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:02,000 Speaker 1: not sign their name, so in their email they're just 538 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 1: listed as see Joy and I don't know how they 539 00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:10,440 Speaker 1: prefer to be addressed, but they write I love Corvid 540 00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 1: so much. I have two Corvid tattoos, one a pair 541 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:16,040 Speaker 1: of magpies, one that was made from a photo I 542 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:20,040 Speaker 1: took of crows circling above an ancient tea house in Narwa, Japan. 543 00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:24,120 Speaker 1: The most unusual corvids I've ever seen are alpine chuffs, 544 00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:27,120 Speaker 1: which live in high mountains in Europe, Asia, and Africa 545 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 1: and are the world's highest nesting birds. A few months 546 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:34,520 Speaker 1: after learning of their existence, I was on vacation in Zermat, Switzerland, 547 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:36,760 Speaker 1: trying to decide whether it would be worth it to 548 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:39,880 Speaker 1: try to buy a very expensive ticket about seventy dollars 549 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:43,440 Speaker 1: US if I remember correctly, to take the Gorner Grat Railway, 550 00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:46,400 Speaker 1: an old cog railway that is the second highest railway 551 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:48,880 Speaker 1: in Europe. While looking up pictures of the top of 552 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:51,040 Speaker 1: Corner Grot to decide if the view would be worth it, 553 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:53,840 Speaker 1: I saw an alpine chuff in one of the photos 554 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:56,080 Speaker 1: and made up my mind that the chance of seeing 555 00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: a species of Corvid I had never seen before was 556 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:02,320 Speaker 1: worth the price. I saw several They congregate at the 557 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:05,160 Speaker 1: popular tourist site to scavenge food scraps, and are so 558 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:07,240 Speaker 1: used to humans that I was able to get some 559 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:11,160 Speaker 1: very close up photos. Alpine chuffs have black feathers with 560 00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:15,160 Speaker 1: a green and purple sheen, bright yellow beaks, bright red legs, 561 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:20,440 Speaker 1: and a bubbly, high pitched call. And then our listener 562 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:26,520 Speaker 1: attaches photos which are gorgeous, and even an audio that 563 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:30,360 Speaker 1: they took of their call, which is quite pretty. This 564 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:33,360 Speaker 1: is so lovely. I feel almost guilty that I have 565 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:37,720 Speaker 1: conjured all of the corvid people to send me things. 566 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:43,680 Speaker 1: I'm happy as a clam that you're doing it, never 567 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:48,160 Speaker 1: a directive, but always happy to receive these things so beautiful. 568 00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:50,520 Speaker 1: And now I'm like, dang it do I got to 569 00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:53,040 Speaker 1: plan this trip because I would like to see those birds. 570 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:57,360 Speaker 1: We'll see what happens. But I love a Corvid tattoo. 571 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:01,319 Speaker 1: We'll see if those ever happen for me. If you 572 00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:07,200 Speaker 1: have any bird, cat, dog, snake, spider, maybe just for me. 573 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:09,919 Speaker 1: I don't know how Tracy feels. I'm spiders. I love 574 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:15,560 Speaker 1: spiders or or other or history things you want to 575 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:17,240 Speaker 1: send us, or just something you want to talk about. 576 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:20,720 Speaker 1: You can do that at History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. 577 00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:23,880 Speaker 1: You can also subscribe to the podcast as easy as pie. 578 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:26,799 Speaker 1: That is easy to do on the iHeartRadio app or 579 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:34,919 Speaker 1: anywhere you listen to your favorite shows. Stuff you Missed 580 00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:38,080 Speaker 1: in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more 581 00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:42,520 Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 582 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:44,480 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.