The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 305 - The Devil's Wire

Episode Date: December 5, 2017

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine barbed wire and the settlement of the west. SOURCES TOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH

When you're staying at an Airbnb you might be like me wondering could my place be an Airbnb and if it could what could it earn? You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it. That in-law sweet guest house where your parents stay only part-time Airbnb it and make some money the rest of the year whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host. Hi you're listening to the dollop. This is a bi-weekly American History podcast so once a week I'll read a story from

American History to my friend oh by this Dave Anthony to my friend. Gareth Reynolds has no idea what the topic is gonna be about. Do you think people they can feel it's weird? They can feel that we've done this three times? They can feel it yeah they're they're feeling there's some it's already a lot of angst. We got the kinks out. No there's your cat. Dave doesn't even have the energy to call him a fat cat right now. And called it quote his jam-packed. Jam-packed? I'm the fucking hippo guy! Dave okay. My name's Gary. My name's Gareth. Wait is it for fun? And this is not gonna come to Tickly Clodcast. Okay. This is like an ad on a five-part

coefficient. Now hit him with the puppy. You both present sick arguments. No sleep no hip-hop. That's like no hip-hop. Action partner. Hi Gary. No. I sleep dad my friend. No. If you want to my Instagram is Dave underscore Anthony underscore. That's my Instagram. What's your Instagram? At ReynoldsGareth and the picture is of the weirdest mustache man I've seen in a while. And we have a dollop one the dollop dollop podcast I think it is. I think it's dollop podcast. Yeah dollop podcast is our Instagram. Also we're on the ATC comedy network. You guys could go check out shows over there. 1841. God thank God it didn't stop this time. Congress passed the

preemption act which allowed squatters the right to buy land at a low cost. They had to live on the land for at least 14 months and they could buy up to 160 acres for one 25 an acre. That's super cheap. You can't get a lot of places can't get a cope for that now. Back then you could get an acre. I don't know it sounds a little pricey. What's the kitch? There is no kitch. You just got to live there 14 months. You got to just literally chill there. You got to farm it. You just got to chill. Oh you got to chill and farm. I don't even know if you have to farm it. This one if you're a squatter I believe squatters are you know it's pretty

straightforward. Well this is also this is also telling people that they can go there and squat for 14 months and then get the land. Right. Literally you have to squat over it. Right that's what it was. My calves are burning. You got two more months to go Jimmy. Shit I got damn intense in our bridge. At this time less than 700,000 of the 17 million United States citizens lived in the western frontier. Sounds like our numbers were pretty good then. Yeah. Should have stuck around that. I agree. Most thought the area was uninhabitable. They uninhabitable. They thought I think from the Sierras over to the Mississippi was

they called it the desert land. They just thought it was a fucking disaster. Jerry is still out. I agree. When Frederick Law Olmsted came west in the 1850s he said that the plains looked like a sea of grasses that moved in swells after a great storm. So it looks like it's a they look like waves. The grass used to be above your head they were in I know in California there were fucking antelopes running around like it was beautiful before we just landed the lost. It was amazing. Okay that's a good thing we came in and fucked with it. Yeah now and then the smaller grass took over we got rid of the big buildings everywhere. What about a Costco? Man have

you ever thought about drilling in a hole here and bringing out the black shitty stuff? Huh? Get it everywhere. Put it in your water. So at this time cowboys would just take their giant herds of cattle across the open land. That's they just fatten them up and then take them to market. But that's helpful because they're eating the big grass that is over our heads right? I hope so. Terrified of that shit. The manifest destiny is in full swing. Americans needed to take the land right and subdue it so they're all about they're all about getting this Western land out. Spread America into the Greens.

Spread America! The donation land law of 1850 let married couples claim 640 acres of land in Oregon territory which at that point is like much bigger. Dave you don't need to explain it to me necessarily because I've seen the documentary far and away and I'm very familiar with how this works. It's a documentary about a boxer. It's not. I know a scientist. It's about a Scientologist who has a leprechaun accent. Oh I think his accent was very good. You think that what you've found an arch? I know when I hear an accent that sounds like mine that it's bad. Some businessmen in the north were against

land grants because they were worried that free land would make all of their laborers run away to the West. Anytime a sentence starts with some businessmen where you know like you just right away know that that's not anything that worried a businessman is good. In the south they had a totally different worry that was that their slaves would escape to the West to become landowners. Jesus God. The ultimate nightmare. This would mean that that those states would probably becomes no slave states right and so that would be terrible. In 1862 President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act which offered 160 acres

of public lands to any citizen or wannabe citizen who could farm the land for five years. So that's as long as you wore a big crazy hat. Yeah I don't think that was a part of it. You got to wear a big hat. I don't think that was everything about it makes sense. You get as much as you need but you got to wear a hat that goes over the grass. We're talking about a hat that's eight feet. This the giraffe thing of hats. The land could be bought for just $18 or you just had to file a piece of paper for $18 which really kind of opened up to people who didn't have a lot of money. After the war anyone who had fought

against the North could not do this. Okay. Suck it. Okay. But many African Americans did particularly men they did come out they didn't do the Homestead Act because they didn't have $18 obviously because they were former slaves but many of them became cowboys and after the war it is believe around 25% of cowboys were African Americans. You see that in all the movies. That's the thing about all every very well represented. There's never been a Western that didn't have 25% black cowboys. Why in like the culture of Hollywood and like their love of at least pretending to embrace diversity has

not been accepted in Westerns. Like they've never I think there's one I think there's there was one movie they came out recently that was I believe an all-black cast of a Western but obviously you never saw it because it probably just played in certain neighborhoods because it's Hollywood. God forbid you're right. Yeah. But but yeah you do say the most historically accurate Western is potentially blazing saddles European immigrants and East Coast migrants headed West real estate and mining speculators also made claims it was a very common scheme for an individual to file a Homestead surrounding

a source of war. Once the land they would fight that that okay so they are they're getting the land around a pond or a lake or whatever ocean. Sure. Once the land was granted other cattle ranchers would then be denied the use of that water source which is obviously against the open land sort of thing. Does that mean if you if you got a place on a river you were like the rivers off limits? No but you you're just like my section of the river. Yeah no one come can't drink from my river part. Right and 160 acres this can be a lot of fucking land. Sure yeah. So this would close off surrounding land to competition and it

would turn out the individual was actually just fronting for a corporation the whole time. Okay. Okay. First to the waterhole. It's basically. So this is the dollop about the Koch brothers. Yeah the first the waterhole should be the nickname of American success. Right. I'm Constantine Koch. There was. Is that really? I'd be great if there was a Constantine. There had to have been. So there was an unwritten rule in the West known as the law of the open range. Cowboys and cattle would travel freely with unrestricted access to grass and water. They needed to do this to fatten up right. So they just taken them out and

they're just letting them eat. So this is the law of nature. Well cattle well I mean cattle aren't natural. A herd of cattle isn't natural. Right. But them wanting to eat grass is natural. But yeah that's very natural. Just just having them out on the land grazing is very natural. Yes. That is a natural way to do things. Yes. Now what now let's listen to how we got in the way. Cattlemen could have 10 they could have up to 10,000 cattle and not own any land at all. Right. How do you keep count? You have a dog that goes around the outside. I counted nine again. That was dogs an idiot. Fucking talking dogs an idiot. I think we lost two. The cattleman grazed livestock

on government lands. It eventually spilled over into undeveloped private land. So in the West it didn't matter who owned the land. Cattle had the right to use any water or grazing pastures. Right. So this is the law of open lands. Not it's not a a technical law but it is like the way things are done. A custom. A custom but a little bit more than that. It's like it's like this is how we live our lives here. Yeah. Well you would gather that that would be the way it would go. Because it's very natural. Because yes because it just does what's going on. Now. Right. Let's do something about it. Now in the denser eastern states livestock

owners fenced in their animals because there's more people. The cattle would then go eat other farmers crops you know. Sure. It's a shit show of of animal eating lettuce. Right. Well it's very hard to tell a cow to not eat. Can't I try it. You have. Good Lord have you tried. I've tried with a Jose. It's not going well. I need to build. Yeah. I see that. Yeah. So homesteaders from the east thought fences were normal and the whole idea behind the homestead act was to get people to farm so they would to them was naturally go out there you put up fences. Okay. But fence land is totally alien and foreign to the Western cattlemen. Right.

Right. So they've never seen a fence. Well they have but it's not like you don't just go out in the middle of nowhere and then there's a fence. Right. That's crazy to them. Right. How do they handle that. It's gonna be good. So fencing is not easy in the West. There were far fewer trees in the plains and the West than there were in the East. Wood rotted in the weather. It needed constant repairs and then there were fires all the time. Good. Things are different and wood. I don't know if you know about wood but it dries and then burn. It burns. It does burn. Yeah. It is flammable. It is flammable. Yes. Yes. God. I think I I think I owe

someone five dollars. You can buy a bundles of it and put it in your fireplace at home and you can set it on fire. You cannot do that with water. You cannot do that with lead. Can't do water. You're thinking of mercury. No. No. I am not. You're thinking of wood. Thinking of wood. Trust me. Just go with me on this one. So there also weren't enough stones to build walls in the West but farmers had... There was a stone shortage? Yeah. Well, I mean if you're out in the middle of fucking Nebraska, yeah, there's a stone shortage. There still is. I don't buy it. Farmers had to have fences though when they planted crops because there's so

many free-range fucking cattle running around that they would just come in and eat and trample everything. Right. So the cattle are experiencing a little they're having moo apron. They're just going out and they get to like have some corn, some maiders. Yeah. They're having a good time. Right. No. It's like... They're just like, wow, that grass was shit. They're like always having a blue apron. You know what's good are carrots. I have had carrots. That was my cow. It's not good. So many farmers then tried hedges. There's a way to keep the cows out. So the idea behind that being that in order to stop them from eating your greens, build a wall of

greens? Yeah, build a wall of lettuce and see what happens. But you won't believe this. They ate through the hedge. How's that possible? If they think it's an amuse-bouche. So the hedges were five to ten feet in width. So they took up crop space and they cast a shadow. Plus they were a pain in the ass. They required constant manipulation to ensure they grew in the right direction. Or else you just have a giant bush. Plus the cows are just gonna eat right through them. Cows are gonna eat through it. Hedges took up to five years to grow. Whose plan was this? This is a terrible plan. This is a fucking Jimmy idiots. Hey, it's me, Jimmy.

I got another idea. Yeah, I was thinking in order to keep the cows out. Yeah. We use a bunch of sweet corn. Oh, hold on. I got this. Get out of here! Hey, yeah, get out of here. Who was we talking to? That was for you. Yeah, yeah. You think he left? Hey, I just got another idea. Hey, Jimmy, you remember me? Maybe we build a wall of ice cream. Jimmy. Keep the kids out. Jimmy, you remember what your last name is? Yeah. Idiot. Yeah. See, you're a fucking idiot. Get out of here. Yeah, get out of here, idiot. No, that's for you, Jimmy. Hey, I got another idea. I think in order to keep the men out, we build a wall of booze. So, why would we? You guys let me know when you're ready. Let's pull the trigger on

something soon. I ain't got long to live. Doc says, I'm pretty sick. Okay, thank God. The coffee. The coffee ain't okay. He just could also burn and rodents love them. So, everyone wins. People start to give up and head back east or to the west coast. Mm-hmm. But some people are experimenting. John Greeninger, an iron worker in Austin, put pieces of metal with coarse teeth on the top of a wooden fence to protect his garden. He had metal teeth? Now, yes. Now, his neighbors and other Austin citizens were furious that he had done this, because they would harm the animals. By teeth, you mean like they are like sort of spikes? Yeah. I mean, it sounds like little, little rigid things that cut the animals. Sure. Yes. Very

humane. So, the cows are cruising over and getting cut, because the cows have never seen this before. They're like, what the fuck is happening? Thought we were doing hedges. And then, so all the people tried to run him out of Austin, but he wouldn't back down. He refused to leave. He wouldn't take down his fence enhancement. And then, in 1862, he was murdered. They don't know if his death was related to fencing, but I'm just gonna say it was. Sounds like some cows got their hands on guns. More fun. Yeah. By 1870, wire fencing became common. But the wire was smooth, which meant Longhorn cattle could bend the wire low enough to trample it or rip up fence posts. So, Longhorn cattle are the fucking crazy asshole of cattle. They're unruly, they're wild,

like they're super hard. T-rexed cattle. They're the T-rexed cattle. Okay. The wire also became brittle in the winter and would droop in the summer, so then they have to replace it every year, basically. And so, it's just fucking costly. Highly ineffective. It's costing a shitload, basically. Fencing costs made farming impractical. The Iowa State Agricultural Society annual report had a section titled, quote, What shall we do for fences? From the shouting times? Yes. Have you seen the defense section? Soup needs to be better. Another report put the total value of fences at over $1.7 billion with an annual cost of $200 million. That's a lot. That's a lot now. That's fucking, that's a lot. That's then? Yeah. Good God. So, basically, the fences are not working. Without

fences, there couldn't be manifest destiny. They couldn't take over the land. Could there be manifest destiny? Oh, man. Then Jacob Hayes came up with the idea of entwining thorny hedge branches with wire. Okay. Which would stop the livestock from damaging the fences. Sure. He's right. Right. Others are working on ideas. In 1873, farmer Henry Rose had a very difficult cow. Okay, did he now? I think we've all dealt with this situation. Sure, yeah. I think he's using drugs. I think. So, he attached a wooden board which had sharp pieces of wood, sharp pieces of wire, sorry, to the cow's head. Sorry. He's fencing the cow's head in? He's fencing the cow's head. So, he's building a fence around the cow's head. Yes, he's put a board, he's put a fence board on

a cow's head as you will do. Sure. Sure, sure. So, this is a man, right. This is a thinker. Sure. He figured this. Did he have anyone around him? I'm sure someone was like. Jimmy Idiots was there. Yeah, this is genius. This is great. I bet I bet there's another guy that was like, don't do that. No, I don't know. Okay, so he puts a board on the cow's. And then the cow would push against the spikes and it would push the board into her head, which had the wires on it would hurt the cow. Sure. And they should stop pushing. That's the idea. Then after a while, he realized instead of attaching the board to the cow's head, he could attach the boards to the fence. So, this guy really works backwards, right? I'm sure the board kept coming off the cow. Was there a guy

behind him who was like, we should build a wall? We should build a wall. Build a wall around the cow's head. So, he patents that idea. And then other guys are patenting other things. There were spur wheels on wire fences. They took the spurs off the back of the right. How would the cow boys jingle jangle? Right. There was no jingle jangling for these guys. And then the cow pushes up against the spurs and they're supposed to get hurt and then not do it anymore. But because they would rotate, it wasn't supposed to hurt them that much. It's just a fun story about how to hurt cows. Oh, yeah. So, but then the spinning made it totally ineffectual. It didn't do anything. So, the cows wouldn't care. So, that didn't work. Another guy patented a fence with cut nails that were

twisted in wire, which would also rotate. But then that didn't work as they rotated. So, the spinning of the spinning of shit is not as a failure. The cows are just like, I don't fucking care. Okay. I didn't know that. Then in 1873, at a county fair, Joseph Glidden saw an exhibit of Henry Rose's spiked board fence. Oh, the guy who everyone got mad at for. Yeah. Okay. He decided to improve on the idea. He twisted short strands of wire into barbs, then intertwined them through two wire strands. What does he call this wire with barbs? Well, this kept the barbs in place. Then he made several hundred feet of what he called barb wire and put it around his wife's garden. Okay. She was like, I wanted to get in there. I want a tail.

How do you have created a prison? The vegetables are in jail. And I didn't know you were in there, but you live there with your tomatoes now. You live there now. So, the farm animals tried to push past it, but they had met a fence they couldn't deal with. And because of the pain, they would turn around and move on. So, Glidden then sold his half of his interest to store owner Isaac Elwood for $265. And together, the two men opened the barb fence company. Okay. Now, they sold 10,000 pounds of barb wire in the first year. That's a good amount. I think so. I'm not a big... Money would be more helpful than weight. I've always done a thing. Like, I went into Home Depot the other day and I was like, can I get 200 pounds of redwood fence? Yeah. Yeah, you want 200

pounds of redwood fence? Sure. There you go. How much fence do you look in a build? I mean, I want it to be around my house. I probably run around 200, 400, 300, 400 pounds. Sure. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. We can do that. You know, I got a big... That's a pretty big place. Yeah, it's a couple acres. How many pounds of fence do you think I need? It's 100. It's like you said. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I thought. That's how we do it. Well, let's put it on the scale. Am I going to help you with that? Because that's a big scale. That's a lot of boards. I don't even work here. Oh, my wife left. Okay. So looking for a pound. Oh, I'm just looking for fence, buddy. I'm not looking for a fence. Let's get it up there. Okay, let's get

her up. The next year they sold more than 600,000 pounds of barbed wire fence. Jesus Christ. One other salesman, John Warn Gates, who gambled so much. You know, we should build gates. Shut up. He gambled so much, his nickname became Betta Million Gates. Wow. He staged a demonstration in San Antonio. He set up a corral using barbed wire and then challenged local cattlemen to, quote, get the wildest damn cattle in Texas, crown here with barbed wire, and then let them try to get out. So he created a challenge where you could see if the cattle would go through the barbed wire. Right. So adding into pounds and pounds of revenue. I'm sure. So a huge crowd gathers, as you would. Because something happened. Anything was happening. Anything happened.

Someone's walking. Yeah, they're there. So the Texas Longhorns are sent in, which, like I said, the most unbelievable belligerent of the cattle. They quote, thundered in and immediately sped toward the fence intent on bullying their way past it. As they made contact with the barbed wire, they drew back in pain. Yes. Terrible. Enraged, they again charged the fence and again recoiled in pain. The herd continued on this way, repeatedly challenging the integrity of the barbed wire fence while the fence continued to hold. Finally, the herd settled down with no more interest in breaking their boundaries. Barbed wire had won out against the toughest breed of cattle in the West. Man wins again. God damn right. You see us turn those wild animals into sad, big creatures. Soon Gates was

flooded. Now they can't have access to nature. That's when we make money. Soon Gates was flooded with orders from people who had seen or heard about the demonstration. So this was the 1800s infomercial. Yeah, this was how many times does this happen to you? I mean, this was a big fucking splash in the West. Like everyone's talking about this is a huge deal. Yeah. Okay. The Los Angeles Herald wrote about the new fencing on May 7th, 1875, quote, the cattle cannot twist or break it. And the bar points will make it a terror to unruly steers after one test. Unruly steer. I mean, they are just personally. They're unruly. They're instinct. They're unruly. You say natural, I say break it. Yeah. It costs one third less than the commonest kind of poor fence. May 15th, quote.

Was the guy who liked putting the board around cows heads like, I still think I think the jury's still out on building fences around their heads individually. Come on, people, listen to me. I also have a fix. Los Angeles Herald, the May 15th, they wrote, quote, it was examined by hundreds of farmers who pronounced it the fence of the period with cheapness. It combines durability, making it the most desirable fence ever presented to the public. Any farmer can put it up. And once up, it needs no repairs. As compared with other fences, it is cheaper, more durable, and more easy to put up. So but there's got to be a catch. It doesn't have the thing where, you know, it just rusts, but it doesn't it doesn't go bad. Like the like the other one that would have rode a little

bit. Right. So it turns out the guy who came up with the idea of wrapping the thorny hedges around the wire, Jacob H. submitted a patent application for an S barbed wire design two months after Glidden had submitted his. Okay. So clearly he should not win this patent. But H received his patent 10 months before Glidden got his. All right, Dave, let's justify the bullshit. Haysh's S bar would become popular, but never as popular as Glidden's design. Still, Haysh put a sign up on his house that read quote, Jacob Haysh inventor of barbed wire. I mean, we're just the worst. What a loser. Can you imagine that? He then filed patent interference papers against Glidden. Okay. But he filed this two months

after. Well, yeah, two months after. Do we find out why he gets it so early? No, it's just because the patents were like, well, we spilled our folders or some guys just working faster than the other guy. So just an office or just like an office guy, sitting on his desk or something, you know, right nose. That's good. So Jacob Haysh then bought ads to make the public aware of his claims. Number one barbed wire man changed my name to barb. No, hold on. Hold on. No, wait, back it up off that. I'll be wire quote to purchasers of barbed wire. The whose barbs has the dullest point and unravels when one wire breaks, whose barb rusts the quickest, the monopolists here, here, here, who makes the only needle pointed and best barb used Haysh.

It's long. Yeah. So there's a little music. It helps us. So they're there. He's trying to set up that that Glidden is a liar trying to make a monopoly of right barb wire. Another quote. Whose turn is it to eat crow? Monopolist said two years ago, they would shut Haysh up in 30 days. Have they done it? Who was the pioneer of the first successful barb wire used? Made the first spool. Who holds the first patent for barbs with two wires? Who shipped the first spool via rail and steamboat? Jacob Haysh is the man, the monopolist, the monopolist, the monopolist are resorting to every artifice to win right or wrong. Eat them not. Their words are but idle tales, twice told. I mean, I just, I just hate him so quickly. Yeah. And also, I

would never monopolist. I would never learn to read if this is how things were written. I would just take a pass. It is. But like an arm in context now, it's like very hard to understand what he is actually saying. He is like you get it. But it's I mean, there's an editor. Yeah, he needs an editor who needs someone to trim down on their tags and lines. Why? That's the one and only Jacob Haysh looking for an editor. That's you. Yes, I'm looking for someone to eliminate some useless words that I have in my slogans and my tags. Oh, come on. You know who invented all this. Why are why are you asking? That's what I'm saying. Come on down the monopolist, the monopolist, the monopolist. I give money to anybody who can find a superfluous word and all this nonsense.

I'm spouting Jacob Haysh man of many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many words. Hey, Jacob, everyone took off. Yeah, I know. Okay. I saw him going. Yep. You know what I think it is. I mean, they actually got here's how long you were talking. Cars were invented and they got in them while you were talking. That's what they were. They were cars. Those were cars. You know, invented those. Okay. Two men fought the two men fought for years, both saying they had the rights and invented it. Haysh kept filing lawsuits against his competitors because his patent had been approved before Glidden's, which is just strict bullshit. I mean, it was approved before, but still the rush designs resulted. So this because

there's competition between these two guys and now everyone's rushing out designs and they're they ended up being 570 barbed wire patents and 2000 patents related to barbed wire patents. Is that a crazy amount? Yeah, I think so for a wire with a fucking little spike in it. Well, you see the tweak that I've made is that the tip of the barb is actually red. So that's a little bit different. I think that's a huge advantage. Mine has flames painted in right there. You see on the tip is red. So that's very much like the one I'm after. Mine has flames. Flames. Mine actually doesn't have barbs. I'm actually here to pitch putting a fence around the cow's head, which I think it'd be a more efficient way to do this. I don't know. But come on, you know, come on.

So barbed wire is super cheap to make. So people just start cranking it out. In Illinois, 29 factories started producing barbed wire. Prices dropped. People were making it illegally all over the place without purchasing, purchasing licenses. Making barbed wire illegally. They became known as moonshiners. It's not as good. It's not as good as the old other moonshiners. No, they're barbed shiners. They would make their illegal barbed wire at night. Don't tell nobody. We're going to make illegal barbed wire. Where are you going? Down to the speakeas and you can drink. Shush up. Let's make some barbed wire. Don't tell nobody. You said it, Jimmy. Glidden's company managed to close down 139 moonshine wire factories with notices. Sure.

Glidden would put notices in newspapers warning dealers and farmers against buying moonshiners wire. There's a black market for barbed wire. That's insane. Fort Worth Daily Gazette. Caution. Dealers in and consumers of barbed wire are hereby warned against purchasing any style of wire represented to be the genuine Glidden wire, as other parties are manufacturing and offering for the sale of an imitation Glidden wire. Now, according to law, the buyer could be held equally responsible for violating patent rights if you buy it, you're fucked as well. But also, I don't really know how patent law works, but if you can make it, can you just make it? No. Okay. Not if someone else has invented it.

But you're not selling it. No. So you pay that person a license fee to make it. So you pay the inventor. Have you never watched Shark Tank? I've watched a lot of Shark Tank. So sometimes they go, I want to make this product. And sometimes they go, I think we should license this product, which means someone's paying you to make your product. But I think even today, there are so many things that... Well, no, you can always get fucked by a patent. Oh, for sure. That's why there's so many patents. So they're going to come after my niece for making slime? I mean, yeah, I'm going to. Now that I know about this, yeah, this is the thing. She's not. Yeah. Well, that's happening. No, she isn't. She's just her friend. That's happening.

This guy, it was Haysh. Haysh did it. So some people backed the patent violators, like you're saying, they didn't believe that some guy should have a patent over bar wire. Well, I think it's one thing if you're making something to sell and profit from it after it's been patented, but after... But that's what he's doing. I mean, he is making, he glidden, did patent this. But I was talking more specifically about the people who are making their own barbed wire. Yeah, you can't do that either. That's what I mean. I feel like you should be allowed to do that. Sorry. That's bullshit. But they're mostly not making it for themselves. They're making it to sell. But I think those are the people he's going after. Okay. I'll allow it. But other people are

mad because he's, you know, trying to create a monopoly. So they became known as the free wire supporters. Good God. And then legitimate manufacturers of lesser known barbed wire designs joined with the moonshiners to resist Glidden's monopoly. In Iowa, there were so many free wire supporters that the state legislature passed a resolution requesting the attorney general bring a suit against Glidden's barbed wire company of monopoly. And Glidden began to be called a shark. But it is shark tank. Yeah. But wait, so, but Glidden, okay. So he, but he came up with it. He designed, he designed the bar. Right. So they, they're using monopolist as sort of this, I mean, that's how they're making him, they're painting him as a villain.

I think what they're saying is people need this to, to, to set up farms and settle the land. And here's a guy making money off of it. And that makes him mad. I think that's all it is. Well, you know, there's always the solution. Build a fence around your cow's head. Just put a couple boards. Now, shut up. Okay. Put a couple boards around your cow's head. Okay. That eliminates all of this. It's more expensive. It's crazier. And it's worse for the animal. Right. So can you write those things down? I can't write anything down. Okay. Okay. Why? I can't write. Oh, is that what you want to talk about? No, I don't need to write. I'm the guy who came up with cow head fence. Okay. Okay. Okay. I don't need to know how to write.

We got it. We got it. There was actually five guys just the other side of town asking where they could get some cow head fence. Shut up. I swear to God. Well, I should get there right now. I need a lot of boards. How many cows they got? They got like 20. Oh, shit. That's going to be a long job. But I need it. Yeah. Yeah. I think people come around once they see what it looks like to have a fence around an animal's cranium. Not at all. Craniums a big word for me. See you later. They are down. I see them. Oh, that just looks like a bunch of corn. I'll go talk to it. I'll go talk to it. So you're whistling out? Yeah. So now, Glenn's company, they're in court, right? With Haish, like they're fighting each other the

whole time. Sure. In December, 1980, the court declared Haish in violation of Glenn's original patent and made him liable for damages accrued. This meant Haish had to pay all the money he'd made off barbed wire since 1874. What year are we in now? That's six years. Okay. So a lot of money because we're talking about a boom. That's a lot of money. Okay. So Glenn's company had these soul and exclusive rights to produce barbed wire. So this goes for fucking everybody now. Sure. Now all independent manufacturers who had violated the patents were liable for back royalties. 33 companies were deemed illegal, manufacturers and hit for back damages. Many barbed wire manufacturers went out of business. Yeah. Well, your model's illegal. Yeah, it's all fucked up.

Those that survived now had to apply for licenses from Glenn's company. Okay. And in July of 1881, Jacob Haish agreed to hand over his rights to the S barb design and other patents he had. In return, he got a license to manufacture and sell barbed wire. Okay. So now he's just one of the now he's just a seller. Yeah. Now he's got to take that sign down off his fucking house. Yeah. Well, it's probably try for the best. But this time, by this time, 50,000 miles were fenced by barbed wire in the West. Two Cowboys and Native Americans fencing was against their way of thinking and life. This was a huge clash between how the two different groups of people were using the land. So obviously, they had a farmers and the non farmers. So they had a big sort of dinner

and they all sort of hashed it out, obviously. Yeah, that's exactly listen to all different sides of the argument. And that's at the end. Thank you. God, what a sweet tale of us understanding. Many people also started to see barbed wire as cruel. And the damage being done to the animals was being written about the daily Alta California newspaper quote, I feel like I'm going to enjoy this section, a fine mare belonging to the live stock company was crippled for life last Monday by jumping into a barbed wire fence. There should be a law passed requiring a top rail put on every wire fence. So as to give animals timely warning, as it is nine cases out of 10, the finest stock are injured on account of not seeing the barbed wire in time. Pacific rural press quote, the worst

case of slaughter by barbed wire that we remember hearing of is reported this week from Chico, where the horses attached to a combined harvester ran away and struck a barbed wire fence for were so badly injured that it was necessary to kill them outright. The Pacific rural press published a recipe to help heal livestock wounds received from barbed wire. This is going to be absolutely insane. People were instructed to apply it with a feather twice a day actually did a feather. There was so much shit in it that I didn't put it down. But yeah, that you put it on with a feather. You put one on with a feather. You put a feather on the wound. It's an elixir. No, they're an elixir. So now people are, it's a secondary business that's being created from barbed wire wounds.

So now there's so many wounded animals that now guys are going around selling elixirs to heal the cattle who are getting wounded by the barbed wire. Welcome to fucking capitalism, motherfucker. You find a solution. So this is about the apothecary boom. In this case, you get some, some sugar and some honey and some feathers and some water and you rub it on a cow with a feather. See how much better he is? That'd be $100. I didn't promise that he wouldn't fall over, sir. Quote, do not wash. Have you tried building a fence around his head? Quote, do not wash the sword all. Oh my God. The advice. Keep a supply constantly on hand to be ready for casualties. Put some feces in the wound. Let it faster. The Daily Out the California suggested barbed

wire fence posts be painted white so the cattle can see them better. In Kansas, it was reported a woman who was driving a team of horses died when they became frightened and threw her onto a barbed wire fence cutting her throat. Oh my God. With all that publicity about- Jesus Christ. Barbed wire. I actually cut out what happens, but okay. What happened? We'll get to it. No, no, what happens to cows. Oh. With barbed wire. That's best to not know. Yeah. With all the public, based on what people have said about the couple of times I've really gotten into shit, they would not be able to handle- Just, I mean, but it's obviously just tearing their flesh. I'll touch on it. With all the publicity around barbed wire wounds, advertising changed. In 1876, an Illinois manufacturer

stated that his barbs, quote, will be sure to penetrate the skin and give pain. Just five years later, manufacturers were advertising that their barbed wire, quote, would resist force and turn livestock without entangling or otherwise injuring them. Humane fields. Yeah, like it went from, like they changed nothing. Oh, this will gut them to like, this is, it's like a pet. They purr if they hit it proper. They're getting happy holes. Yeah, that's just different holes for them to exude happiness. From the Glidden Company's pamphlet, quote, the barbs are short and lance shaped so that there is no danger of injury to stock. No, good lord, no. They will prick and scratch, but never tear the skin. No wounds are made. No. Consequently, no loss of cattle in the Southwest

from putrefying sores in which flies deposit their eggs. Oh my God. That is the- I feel like I would put that- Thou doth protest too much. How about you get an editor in, because I don't think you should have that in your ad. You know what'll never happen is that they'll get cut and flies or lay eggs in their wounds. So that's a problem, but- Among a plethora of other things you will avoid. Now, I'm, I'm going to stop because there was also a big problem. So worms would get into the infection. Jesus Christ. And then the cows would basically be eaten apart from the inside. Oh, good lord. And there was a long description of that that I took out. So everyone, right now, say thank you to Dave. Thank you Dave. So this is what caused the elixir business to-

So now there's guys cruising around from farm to farm. Hello, I've got elixirs that have fixed your cow worm problem. I'm having a lot of trouble right now. There's a lot coming at me. Have you tried to eat the cow worms? So there are just- This is where spaghettios come from. Oh my God. This is the story of Chef Boyardee. So there, there are just cows with festering wounds that have worms in them. And then, of course, we have the hair tonic salesman going from town to town being like, Hey, got a worm problem with the cow? Try some ginger smooth. Ginger smooth. It's- It's what cows' wounds love. It's another thing you don't see in westerns. Weird. Yeah. So Barbaro Chainsway Americans looked at the west. A lot of people had decided

not to go west because of the fencing issue, but with Barbaro, they started heading out. Okay. In 1870, there were 2.7 million farms in the U.S. by 1880, 10 years later, 4 million. Okay. So that's almost double. Pretty good. Not quite, but no, not even quite. It's a- It's not double. Quarter more. Yeah. In 11 western states, the number of farms increased 74%. Jesus. Some of these farmers put up Barbaro Fences around land that was not theirs and blocked access to open public land. Shocker. This is especially true in Texas. Don't let's not, let's not. Settlers illegally enclosed public property with Barbaro Fences. One cattle driver said, quote, it makes me sick when I think of onions and Irish potatoes growing

where Mustang pony should be exercising and where four year old steers should be getting wrapped for market. I mean, I literally want to vomit out of my face when I see goddamn vegetables growing out of the ground where there could be a giant fucking animal. The good news for this guy is that we will follow through with his plan. We will get there, sir. We will sacrifice the vegetables for that sweet, tasty meat. McRib is back. Off tangent. Like you, you have, you are someone who's probably read about how the like Tyson chicken is so fucking horrible to the chicken farmers. Like it's- Well, Dave, Dave, there's- Unfuckably what they do the chicken farmers. So now there's a giant movement in the Midwest. They're stopping eating meat.

They're fucking themselves, the companies. Wait, what do you mean? People, there's a movement to stop eating meat by farmers. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the truth is in the, in a lot of those coups, if you'd call them that. Don't go into it. Well, but the, I like truly, you are now no longer allowed to have windows and it's not because you don't want the chickens to see outside. It's because you don't want anyone to see inside. Right. And the peep and the farmers don't do that. That's an order from Tyson. Oh, the farmers, if you put up a fight, you're not a farmer anymore. Yeah, then they take away your farm. Yeah. It's pretty cool. Yeah. So a real estate salesman wrote that the ranchmen were quote, fencing up large bodies of land that did not belong to them and trampling

on the rights of the public. Roads were cut off, schools and churches became inaccessible to people who traveled on horseback. We don't want any cattle in the church. Sorry. In Archer and Jones counties in Texas, farmers and cattlemen could only reach the courthouse if they cut someone's barbed wire. Sorry, I gotta, gotta go to court today. Pardon me coming through here. Have you ever heard a cow lawyer? He needs to make a case on this week's cow lawyer. In 1883, it was reported that almost 4.5 million acres had been illegally fenced. New York Times quote, imagine a horse riding party pressing forward over the wide prairie expanse and coming to a barbed wire fence. Imagine the first part. Yeah. I imagine the first part very well, which stretched to the

horizon, losing itself in the distance. They can scarcely be expected to take the fact pleasantly that the line of fence is 38 miles long and they must go round the pasture. Holy shit. So you can say that's a problem. Why? Because it takes two more days. Is that why? The traveler may choose to cut the fence wires and proceed on their journey, perhaps preparing for a fight. The question is an important, interesting one. How large a pasture a man may enclose against public travel in absence of legislation, which of course will ultimately control the matter. Right. Okay. So they're saying some legislation has to happen because this is crazy. Right. Okay. But Dave, we want less government.

In New Mexico, there are enclosed pastures of hundreds of thousands of acres and enclosures for separate herding from 10 to 15 miles square. Inevitably, the new system has brought the herdsman necessity of owning land. So they're saying this cause, so now this, this makes the guy with the herd by land. Like it's, they're calling it a shit show. Like it's forcing right guys to change. A note was found posted on a street in the town of Coleman, Texas, and then printed in the paper quote down with monopolies. So I guess they're calling all these giant farms monopolies. Right. Down with monopolies. They can't exist in Texas away with your foreign capitalists. The range and soil of Texas belong to the heroes of the South. No

monopolies and don't tax us to school the nigger. Oh, Jesus, God, they had you until the end. It got weird at the give us homes as God intended and not gates to churches and towns and schools all above. Give us water for our livestock. I'm still a little hung up on the middle. Well, yeah, I mean, so there's this, there's this Southern thing obviously happening. Yeah. Native Americans around this time started calling barbwire the devil's rope. I haven't changed their entire way of life. We just start listening to the Native Americans. Seems like their gut instincts a little better than ours. Yeah. Yeah. It's impossible with this swell of public anger against first outlaws and cattle wrestlers

took the lead and started cutting down barbwire fences around 1881. Okay. Then the cattlemen got into it. At first they cut only illegal fences. And then they started cutting the legal ones. Let's go. Yes. Cowboys and cattlemen cut down any fences that block the way to water sources or grazing areas. And it's very hard to catch fence cutters because they usually worked at night and usually wore masks or bandanas and most people supported them. Good. Gainesville newspaper quote. Several miles of barbwire fence has been cut in Clay County. On Saturday night, one and a half miles of fence belonging to a steed and Ewing was cut by the nippers. They're called nippers. Oh, I like that. Yeah. Who made their work through thorough by cutting between

all the posts. Farmers and ranch owners are arming themselves and searching for the fence cutters. Who are you? With the nippers. Hello. We're wearing bandanas with nippers. I mean, I'll show you a picture at the end. Everyone nippers of not of the nippers of these guys were cutting fences. Okay. Everyone was taking sides. Austin Weekly statesman quote. As a rule, fence cutters disturb only those who establish monopolies in the lands. And it is better if all of this class is discouraged from buying. Texas needs no more land monopolies. So they're against the big farmers. Yeah. From Montana newspaper, the selling of large bodies of land to wealthy foreign corporations in person seems to be at the bottom of most of the trouble,

which is now trying the souls of the Texans. This is something that should be stopped at once by national legislation. If kept up, it will develop in this country a landed aristocracy similar to that of Great Britain. Oh boy. We're 99 out of every 100 of the entire population are dependent on the bounty of some Lord. Right. Yeah. Of course, fights started breaking out. New York Times quote. Many fences were cut in the Dallas area Monday night and several men were wounded in a firefight terrible terrible times are imminent. That'll save the crops. Get fire involved. No, that's gun, gunfire. I gotta go. A picture of blowtorches. Oh my god. That'd be amazing. The subject causes much shovel and a

local war is feared real estate and like a war. Yeah. Okay. Real estate and livestock have depreciated in value already estimated at 60%. The Galveston News reported that nippers had destroyed fencing around a 700 acre property near Waco. We'll get their wake up. Yeah. From Kansas quote, a widow lady by the name of Miss Ford bought a piece of land. She put a good barbed wire fence around it and has used it as pasture ever since a few nights ago a party of men cowards who came in the night destroyed the entire fence cutting the wires and pulling the posts out of the ground. Dude, call him cowards is so much better. It's got cow in it. Yeah. Oh, they are cowards. But also the widow Ford like fuck off. She's some fucking rich lady who bought a bunch of land and

put up fence. They make her sound like the widow Ford. The idea that like you want to protect some of your land like is not that is not crazy. What's crazy is when you're trying to literally just keep when everything is fenced in and nobody can access anything for no real reason. But that's what it becomes. Right. Of course. No matter what. Yes. It starts very simply. You're like, but that's what it is. Like, it's the, you know, it's the greed that consumes us. Also in Kansas, a letter was left on a cut barbed wire fence quote. We just want to tell you to throw open those gates or we will open them for you. You have no right to that land. You are a thief. You pretend to be a Christian, but I think you have forgotten what your master says.

Thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbors. Now there are 10 of us that has made up our minds to have the good use of that land and water as you until the lawful owner comes. Now look out. We have got the pictures ready and Dan will come that fence. You're all a pack of hogs. They went off the rails at that point. Yeah, because now they're calling them a pack of animals, which is sort of what they're trying to prevent or like try to protect. You would like to get all of Kansas providing you could get it for nothing. You would even like to get that place you live on if you could, but I think you are mistaken. I heard you was owing between 2,000 and 2,500. Better pay up and you better look out. When do we get to the golden era of less is more with words?

I know. There's a lot of writing there. Yeah, it's you're putting a note on a fence. Yeah. Well, you know, when you're writing a letter, you start getting into it. Yeah, but you just put the you mean you just don't want the verbose person to have the pen. There's 10 guys. Put it in the hog line. Tell them I said screw it and kick rocks. Screw it and kick rocks. Dodge City Times. Why don't we make it a poem? No. Dodge City Times, October 25, 1883. The fence cutting troubles as anticipated caused bloodshed. On the border of Jack County near the lines of the Red River Cattle Company, one man was killed and another wounded. A guard was stationed to protect the fence,

and on the night of the 14th, the fence cutters were out and a conflict ensued. Up to this time, no further particulars have been ascertained, although it was expected that there would be more fighting. In Colorado, as reported, ranchers were killing people who cut barbed wire fences. Signs were hung, quote, cut this fence and buy your coffin. I'm not paying for my own coffin, asshole. You wanted a shorter note. Yeah, by the way, I like, I like, I like that it is shorter. But it was almost impossible to learn who had been shot after someone was shot and killed. Like you just, they would just kill someone and leave them, right? Well, what about the

pole coffin talk? Well, they put the gun coffin and then they throw them in the ground. You never know what happened. I don't think they bought them coffins. In North Dakota, a rancher bought land on each side of the Little Missouri River and started to fence it. This would keep all the cattle away from the river, except for his own. So the other ranchers got out their nippers and cut up his fences. So now it's farmer again. Now it's farmer farmer be farmer rancher against rancher. When he had it restrung, they cut it again. A little while later, three drunk hunters fired bullets into the rancher's 28 room house. 28 room house. Yeah, he's a fucking Aaron spelling. Who the fuck is this guy? This led to a gunfight. One man was killed and another

suffered a broken leg. That guy's bad at gunfights. The Blue Devils formed in Texas. They were described as desperados who destroyed fences. Okay, it's an anti fence gang. You know, at the beginning, if you'd said an anti fence gang would have made sense to me towards the end, I'd have been like, you're crazy. They regarded a fence made of barbwire as quote, a barricade against freedom of the soil and cutting it a patriotic duty. True. There were other fence cutting gangs like the owls and the javelinas. Exactly. Oh God, the fence cutters are here. A castrable farmer found a card with a bullet hole, bullet hole through it on his fence. It came with a threat note. If you don't make gates, we will make them for you. And Hamilton County and they shot

through the letter. Well, they took it away. I mean, you shoot through the letter and then people are like, well, they'll hold in this. Yeah, I think they have bullets. They meet business boys. They're not a aim. Look, they killed this letter. Good God, it's bleeding every letter is dead. In Hamilton County, 15 men after cutting barbwire left a picture of a coffin with a note saying they were quote determined to have free grass and free water even if even at the risk of our own lives. Another paper reporter coffin was nailed to a fence post coffin. Yeah, the whole fucking coffin. It's gonna be hard to get through. Yeah. Some wire cutters in Live Oak County destroyed a fence, then dug a grave, dangled the rope into it and left a sign that said quote, this will be your end

if you rebuild this fence. Getting a little cutesy. Getting a little cutesy. Well, they're trying to up each other with the coffin. Yeah, but I mean, come on. What about building a grave here? Oh, we need to put an actual body on the fence. Oh my God. In Brown County, men knew a man known as the white cappers burn pastures, cut fences and threaten to kill anyone who replaced wire. They also threatened that cattle would be poisoned and homes dynamite it. Jesus Christ. It's not fucking fencing. Poison the cattle. Yeah, but fences are serious. Because they're owned, right? Okay. One day during day. Well, not that's not their cattle there. No, I understand, but it's still sort of like a little bit anti what your message is. No, because their message

is no fences. They don't care what's in the fence. Yeah, their message is also sort of like let nature be. No, no. No, they don't. Their message is no fences. So they don't care. But the rationale between no fences is let like, you should not be my point being that the cattle have not done anything. But they don't care. They're that's property that they're destroying that's fenced in. And I take a little bit of an issue with it. They got weird. One day during daylight, they came across normally happens during day. One man. No, it was never during daylight. So one day during daylight, they came across some men repairing a fence and push their guns against their chest and quote, threaten them with extinction. Extinction. You can't follow through on that.

What? I'm going to shoot you and all humanity will be done, sir. What do they think they are? I don't know. This is a very special gun. This is a gun that we found in an alien grave. It'll be amazing if that's what happened there. And then we will remove your genealogy from Earth. I mean, imagine if aliens came down after that happened and like, good fucking God, what happened here? Well, one guy shot him in the chest and now they're all extinct. That'll teach them. You know, the cows are doing great cows are good cows are thriving. Fort Worth Daily set reported a man arrived in Waco with $500,000 to invest in Texas land, but became concerned about all the fence cutting issues and left disgusted taking

all his money with him. The paper said this was not an isolated case. Quote, it is not beyond the bounds of reasonable statement to say that millions of dollars have been lost to Texas through the reports of the reign of lawlessness that fence cutters have commenced. Sure. Check it now before it becomes irreparable. So now, right? So you don't want money leaving town? Nope. This man came to town with $500,000 and he left. Can't have that. In February 1884. Oh, that's my phone. Oh, gotta move off on the shelf. What a cute ring. What? Time to move off on the shelf. The fuck are you talking about? It's a Nazi loose in my house. I know what Elf on a shelf is, but why does your phone have a special? Because my kid went to bed

and I set an alarm for when to move on the shelf and then I got a move. Are you gonna set another alarm? No, I'll remember. You know, you should do. Build a little fence around the Elf. He'll never get him. Hey, listen, Finn. Elf on the shelf is no longer free ranks. Because a monopolist monopolist monopolist. In February 1884. So now, right? So now, now that big money is leaving, now, now things are going to come to a conclusion. Surely. The Texas like legislature passed several laws to try to put an end to the fence issue. Fence cutting was declared a felony and severe penalties would be handed down. The killing of a fence cutter would be considered a justifiable homicide.

What? That is not a term that should be. It's like if you, it's like if, if a guy takes, like if you have a shirt and a guy takes it, you can kill them, right? Is that okay? I think so. Okay. Shirts, fence for your skin. I like how you, I like how you, you just read about how someone destroys capital in America, a piece of property, and you're, you're shocked that someone could be killed for that. I mean, you can still kill people for taking your shit in America. Yeah, I guess. I mean, yeah, it's happened. It's happened. I look cool. It's going to start happening way more. Some guy, I don't know where it was, Ohio or some place. Some, some saw some kids dealing with TV and just shot him and killed him and he got away

with it. What? Yes. Was it on Black Friday? Do you know about America? I'm trying not to. A bad podcast for me to be on. Large owners of tracks of land are prohibited from fencing in small owners. And if they did, it could make fence cutting justifiable. So fence cutting is illegal, but if someone fences in your fence, then you can, then you can fence cut. Wait, wait. So if people are fencing in other people's fences, yeah, then you could, and then you can kill them. You could, no, you can cut the fence. You can cut their fence. You can cut the bigger fence. But what if you build a fence around their fence? Oh, if you don't, is that offensive? Quote, in Coleman County, every fence except one is down and that is guarded day and night

by our men. Governor Ireland said that he would only pardon any man, said that he would pardon any man convicted of shooting a fence cutter. Fencing the land of another. Is it weird that it sounds like it's now sort of two? Like these sort of things, this rhetoric will be tossed around now. It's not, it doesn't feel very different. Fencing the land of another person became a misdemeanor with a fine not to exceed $200 and six months time to remove the illegal fence, right? So if you fence someone in, if a fence crossed public roads, fencers had to install a gate every three miles. Just a week later, 15 to 20 men arrived at a ranch on horseback at a farm outside of Austin and cut a fence. Oh boy. In April, 60 men were indicted for fence

cutting in San Antonio. The district attorney said he would be able to get 200 more indictments for fence cutting, fence post burning, perjury and conspiracy to kill the sheriff. Well, really picks up at the end. It sweeps. A Mr. Ren approached the New York Times with an idea. He said it would end the fence cutting issue in three months at the newspaper. Build a board around their head and fence in their heads. Okay, he's back with a different name. Yeah. Security. At the offices, Mr. Ren opened a large case and took out a strange looking object he called an angel maker. I've got to go, Dave. He had patented patented it and said it was guaranteed to kill more fence cutters in 10 minutes than could be put in a freight car.

Oh, wow. A lot of a lot of guys. I'm carried. I have a guess. It was a pear shaped hollow bomb made of cast iron. He said the fence cutter wouldn't see the little wire coming out of the ground when he cut the barbed wire. It would jerk toward the post, which would set off the bomb. One angel. What is happening? One angel makers. That's going to ruin the fence. If you have ruined a lot of shit. One angel maker put 18 inches underground with her rock and dirt hundreds of feet in every direction. So it's a fucking IED. Right. The concussion would kill the man or any animal within 60 feet. So what the fuck is the point? You saved a fence, brother. You're just like, you're going to I guess you're just hoping that

there are like the guys. Yeah, but I guess you hope word gets out that you die if you cut fences. But still, it's not like you're protecting shit at that point. You know, this is terrorism. This is like, absolutely. Mr. Ren said he had already been in contact with men in Texas and almost everyone he talked to ordered the angel maker. He was already sending the bombs in, quote, harmless form. He believed as soon as word of the bombs got out, the fence cutters would stop. Quote, of course, some few will go ahead and will be blown into mincemeat. Well, look, of course, you're going to break a couple of eggs, but what an omelet. But their friends will soon catch on to the racket and the fence cutting will be at an end. Right. We just got to blow up some fellas.

Right. One Texas sheriff threatened to use one of the bombs in a letter to his superior because he was over patrolling fences and wanted to be reassigned. He was he was being worked too much on fences. So he was going to blow up his boss. Sure. Local legend says he did detonate some bombs and it stopped the fence cutting in a large area of Texas. Okay. In Fort Worth in January, 1886, a grand jury was presented with 79 cases against cattlemen for allegedly illegal fencing of public lands. Indictments were handed down against all the leading renters in the area, and they started, of course, being acquitted. The defense argued the law was unconstitutional and that the land board had exceeded its powers. In December, 1887, indictments were handed down

against fence cutters in Brown County, Texas. None of the indicted men were convicted. Turns out it's hard to prove someone cut a fence in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. Right. Yeah, it's pretty much honor system. But the government intervention began finally to really end the fence cutting wars. During the 1880s, the Texas Panhandle, and I would also imagine the winning of the people putting up the fences, like they're just winning the battle. Yeah. During the 1880s, the Texas Panhandle and South Plains of West Texas were hit by powerful storms called Blue Northers. They were very cold storms that made blizzards. This wasn't great for cattle who would head south to hide out in canyons and river valleys, right? So Blue

Northers kind of the cows know head south, get into some protected area, hide out. The ranchers would then go have to round them up, which was a total pain in the ass. So in 1882, the Panhandle Cattle Association decided to build the fence to keep Northern livestock from wandering down to the southern ranges. That's pretty smart. In a few years, the fence stretched across the entire Texas Panhandle from New Mexico to Oklahoma. Holy shit. A giant fucking fence. Then a cold storm hit in 1885. The cattle headed for their normal southern hiding places, but there was a fence. So they were trapped. The ones that were not traveled frozen or starved to death were killed by wolves or coyotes. Then it thawed in January, and there was a massive

core cow corpse reveal. Thousands of cattle were dead along the fence line. The foreman of one ranch was furious and demanded the ranch owners allow him to cut the Panhandle fence. They refused and he quit. More blizzards came the next winter, and again, thousands of cattle died. Jesus Christ. One ranch hand was said to skin 250 carcasses a mile for 35 miles on one stretch. Oh my god. Several Panhandle ranches almost went under from the losses. This wasn't just cattle. Great herds of buffalo were not just killed off from hunting as we all think. Fences killed many. They couldn't get to their traditional grazing lands or water. From scholar Susan Bentley, quote, barbed wire closed off land, closed people land, and enabled some people to acquire land

illegally. So they're just putting up fences everywhere and it's fucking up. Not the cows. The actual like our native cows are big similar beasts. The barbed wire fences had won the fence cutting wars were the final battle to keep the open range. More settlers came barbed wire was strung up in more and more places. Soon phone companies would begin connecting communities, but there was little interest in connecting rural farmers. They weren't going to pay to bring the wire out to one farmer. But someone realized they already had wire going to farms. Oh God. And kids started being sold for just $25 to connect phones to barbed wire. Cooperatives popped up all over. And by 1907, there were a million and a half households connected

most by barbed wire. Farmers ended up being the early adopters of phone technology. Eventually phone companies would move in and do it the proper way. And keep it that way until 2017. As time moved on, barbed wire became associated with war, the battlefields of World War One, which led to a song sung by British soldiers about being strung up on the old barbed wire. Then of course, concentration camps and strong up on the old barbed wire, strung up on the old barbed wire. We are your you're literally doing the song. Shut up. I'll try to find it. Put it in. That's what it is. Then, of course, concentration

camps in Germany and today many prisons. Meanwhile, the fight over the open range has continued with men like Cliven Bundy, Cliven Bundy, now a leader of the movement. So he's don't make me his whole deal. Yes. Is he wants his cows free raise to free graze on government land. And the government that's that's how the government has decided that that can damage things which lead to habitats of certain animals being destroyed. So they don't want them doing it in certain places. But he does anyway. And then he's supposed to pay the government to graze on the land, which they refuse to do. But that's all of their beef. That's the sage

breath moment. The truth is that like the the you know, you want like you do need any like you you need cattle to be able to move from where they're grazing. The last thing you want is for them to be in an enclosed I mean, they're not even in close spaces anymore. They're in like, you know cages essentially. But you want them to be able to graze an area ruin an area move on from that area that area because of, you know, fertilization will then repopulate regrow. And then they can come back to that in a year. But what we do is we're like, no, I don't know, we don't want to move them. Oh, God, let me hear it. No, I'm going to put it up. That's that's one of the gangs. Let's have a look here. That's a fence. Oh my God. That's some David Lynch shit.

It is describe it. It looks like it's basically guys, one guy's in kind of a bandit mask, but then the rest of the guys have sort of like weird skeleton like what they're in suits. It looks like it looks like a Tim Burton poster. It's fucked up. We're in a fucking weird place. We're a weird place. Oh, shit. It should be an album cover. We're the Bob Wise. So I can't remember the books called there's a book. I'm like, I'm like, my whole I've talked about this for my old philosophy. And I've never talked about this actually. You've heard of the book Ishmael? No. So the basic idea is that the way we have decided to farm is wrong. Yes. It's totally against nature. Yeah. And it's sort of not sustainable.

And it's it's created all these problems. And it's sort of fascinating because it goes to this. It's like what's natural and what's right? Well, it's not right. No, like it's what we do now, but it's not right. Like it's not how our world we're supposed to live. Our whole society at this point is basically based around Pennywise dollar foolish. The band Pennywise. No. I'm sorry. I'm thinking a candlestick. But no, we really are. We're like, you know, it makes sense now for us right now. You can get the most out of cattle. You can get the most out of production. If you just jam in as many in a small space as possible. And, you know, factory farm, essentially, in the long run, it creates so many more problems than it's actually going to be worth.

Yeah. Yeah, because you are you're ruining land. I mean, what it ends up doing is it ruins land because land gets just, you know, over. It ruins soil. Yeah, ruined soil. And it become I mean, it becomes like septic and all this shit. And so the idea is that if they were freely allowed to graze, I mean, it's really not that complicated either. You know, it's just it is now. It is, but it isn't. It is now. It is because of corporations, but it really isn't. But it is because of corporations. Of course, because of fucking Tyson chicken and fucking McDonald's and Ishmael by David Quinn. Daniel Quinn. Sorry. You should read it. Okay. It looks a little pricey. It's a really interesting book. Yeah, it's $10. You don't want to get on that one. I get it right away.

But anyway, it's about it's about that. The barb wire trick does it did. The barb wire come off faceted. So barb wire was a thing that essentially was a massive technology change for our society. Yeah. Well, so is the fucking iPhone. I have a Samsung. Regardless, the smartphone seems such a great idea, doesn't it? No, no, of course not. Stay off Twitter. Stay off all this shit. Stay off the phone a little bit. Put the fucker down. I happen. Do you have anything to say? Anything else? Like I said, we're on ATC comedy network. Check that out. We're going to be, there's going to be stuff coming up that we're filming. Yeah, video stuff. Not this, not this podcast, but related. I would never, ever get preachy. But a good thing to do sometimes is

to, you know, eliminate meat from a meal every now and then it does help a lot with this shit. You don't have to have it on every meal. Okay. That's all I'll say. Yeah. I nobody's saying never have it. No, cut the fuck back. What's particularly, particularly if you want to save the environment, red meat. Yeah. No, it's better for you to be a vegetarian who drives a Hummer. But this is also weird. Your cat is huge. Is your cat not eating tons of meat? Well, because of the barbed wire. I've wired him in. So he can't roam like he should be able. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, so he can't roam like he should be able to. So because I've built the fence and these goddamn nippers keep coming over and they keep cutting it because

they're screaming about monopolist. Jose is unable to get the exercise he needs around the land around him. Right. Do you understand what I'm saying? No. So you should. I mean, the first of all, he's losing weight. Second of all, I forgot what the question was. He's not losing weight. Third of all, can I borrow $10? I have to buy a book. Fuck. We shine cars. We shine cars.