How did Barbed Wire get to Texas?In 1875 Henry Sanborn traveled to Texas as the chief salesman for the Glidden Ellwood Barbed Company. "...Sanborn went to Texas to estimate the potential sales of barbed wire in the state. Although he encountered initial prejudice toward the new product, he had the company ship four carloads of wire, one each to Sherman, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio, and asked that Warner come and help him sell it. Their advertising campaign soon worked, for by 1876 their annual sales amounted to almost a million dollars." -SANBORN, HENRY BRADLEY
Sanborn and Warner were not the only two to advertise barbed wire in Texas. Pete McManus and his partner John Gates put on a demonstration on Alamo Plaza in San Antonio, where they used the “Winner” wire, and showed how it could hold in longhorns as well. Together they helped the sales grow and it changed the value and uses for the land across Texas. |
Positive Effects |
Barbed wire had several positive effects on Texas and it's land. For example, it allowed farmers to do more with their land, such as separating their crops from their cattle. It also allowed them to have a more controlled breeding with their cattle, which somewhat helped stop the demand for longhorn cattle. A positive effect was that stone, mud and wood fences, ditches, and thorny hedges no longer had to be used for keeping the land divided. It showed up when needed, which was during the Westward expansion with the agriculture growing, and continues to be used to this day. Barbed wire had a positive effect on the growth of agriculture int Texas, and helped continue to bring more people to Texas.
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Negative Effects |
Though there were several positive effects, there were some negative effects as well with barbed wire. One of these problems was that animals would get caught in the barbed wire, and could either get seriously injured, or they could possibly die, if not found in time. Another effect that could be positive or negative, based upon how you feel, would be the closing of open range, where the land became divided and separated.
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