Barbed wire is a critical innovation that shaped the High Plains. Field Editor Lacey Vilhauer takes a look at its origins.

Drive the rural byways in Central Minnesota on any given day and watch for barbed wire fences. You will undoubtedly — eventually — see a round wreath-like coil of barbed wire hanging on a post.

Many patent applications for variations of barbed-wire fences were filed around this time. But the barbed-wire design that ultimately won out and caught on was by Joseph Glidden.

While “wildlife friendly” fencing designs that use smooth instead of barbed wire for their top and bottom strands reduce the risk of injury and entrapment, few if any fences are friendly to ...

The year that Glidden secured his barbed wire patent, 32 miles (51km) of wire were produced. Six years later, in 1880, the factory in De Kalb turned out 263,000 miles (423,000km) of wire, enough ...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — An ongoing study found that collisions with a relatively short section of barbed-wire fence killed dozens of sage grouse over a seven-month period, research that could affect a ...

His original double-strand design, the Winner, lived up to its name; it is the best-selling barbed wire of all time. ... Soon barbed-wire fences were everywhere, and sure enough, ...

A chain link fence topped with barbed wire is being added to a 155-foot (47-meter) high bridge over a scenic Tennessee valley in an effort to prevent people from jumping off the span, the National ...