Activity: The Barbed Wire Dilemma
The Native American Perspective
It is 1883, on the Southern Plains. A town hall meeting has convened to discuss and decide
on the use of barbed wire for ranchers and farms. You have been assigned the role as a
delegate for your people, the Comanche, at this town hall meeting. You must try to get your
peoples’ point across that barbed wire should be prohibited from use on the Southern Plains’
(and hopefully across the entire Plains) ranches and farms.
Over the past 200 years, Comanches have moved on to the Southern Plains for better
economic opportunities. The open, free land of the Southern Plains and the horse has allowed
the Comanche to live a lifestyle that revolved around the seasonal migrations of the bison. If
the land the Comanche now are allowed to use for hunting was sectioned off and barbed by the
U.S. government and pioneers, the Comanche would not be able to move with the seasonal
bison herds. If this were to happen, the Comanche’s lifestyle would be threatened and could
probably result in their extinction.
Secondly, the Comanche historically have a right to live on the Southern Plains. Their
people entered the Southern Plains in the late 1600s. Traditionally, other Native Americans
have lived on this land as well. The Americans and Europeans have only recently intruded on
to the Southern Plains. Since this is the case, the Comanche should have the right to decide if
barbed wire is used. Also, don’t the Comanche have the right to tell the Americans and
Europeans to leave the Southern Plains, since they were here before them.
You have seen and heard of the effects of barbed wire on other areas of the Great Plains.
Americans and Europeans had occupied land, sectioned it off, and then erected barbed wire
fences for their livestock and farms. This has pushed other Native American groups off of their
traditional land and made their existence quite difficult, if not impossible to live. You cannot let
this happen to you and your people. The Comanche life way must not be corrupted by
American and European pioneers.
Activity: The Barbed Wire Dilemma
The Barbed Wire Manufacturers Perspective
It is 1883, on the Southern Plains. A town hall meeting has convened to discuss and decide
on the use of barbed wire for ranchers and farms. You have been assigned the role as a
delegate for barbed wire manufacturers across the United States. It is your job at the town hall
meeting to make sure all understand that the use of barbed wire is the most appropriate tool for
fencing off the Southern Plains.
Before the invention of barbed wire, the lack of effective fencing limited the range of farming
and ranching practices, and with it the number of people who could settle in an area. Wooden
fences are costly and difficult to acquire on the prairie of the Southern Plains, where few trees
grow. Likewise, rock sources for stone walls - commonly found in New England - are highly
localized on the plains, and rock walls are impractical for the many miles of fencing needed for
the vast ranches. Shrubs and hedges take too long to grow to be of much use for fencing tracks
of land. Therefore, barbed wire is cheaper, easier, and quicker to use than any of the
alternatives.
The state of Texas has told the public that the land of the Southern Plains is unclaimed. Due
to the Compromise of 1850, the state assumed ownership of the region and began offering
homesteading grants to encourage settlement. If Native Americans do not own the land, then
other pioneers should be allowed to use the land for their families’ benefit. This includes the
use of barbed wire fences for ranching and farming.
We barbed wire manufacturers are just trying to make an honest living. The barbed wire
manufacturing business allows jobs to be created and provides a way for our families to
maintain a decent standard of living. We are also providing a way for homesteaders and
pioneers to survive on the Southern Plains. These people should be given the chance to use
the most effective tool for protecting their herds, farms, and land. To deny the use of barbed
wire is to deny the right for Americans to live on the Southern Plains.
Cowboys say that the use of barbed wire will destroy their lifestyle of rounding up cattle
for the Long Drive. The Long Drives are dangerous and wasteful to cattle and to cowboys.
Besides, the new fenced-off ranches will still need cowboys to perform roping, riding, and
herding livestock. We are providing cowboys with a better type of job by fencing off the plains.
Activity: The Barbed Wire Dilemma
The Cowboys and Herders Perspective
It is 1883, on the Southern Plains. A town hall meeting has convened to discuss and decide
on the use of barbed wire for ranchers and farms. You have been assigned the role as a
delegate for all cowboys and herders. Although cowboys and herders work with different types
of animals (cattle and sheep respectively), the two groups both despise the use of barbed wire
fences on the Southern Plains. It is your job to make sure all understand that the use of barbed
wire will destroy your lifestyle of moving herds of animals freely across the open Southern
Plains.
Sheep herding has long been a tradition on the Southern Plains. Hispanic peoples brought
sheep to the Pecos Valley of the Southern Plains in the late 1500s for grazing purposes. This
lifestyle had not changed much until the mid 1870s, when pastores began moving their flocks
onto the Llano Estacado for grazing. Since the herders have been here for such a long time
(even longer than the Comanche) don’t they have the right to decide if barbed wire should be
used for fencing-off land. If the land is fenced-off, then the sheep herders lifestyle of free
movement across the Southern Plains will eventually die off. We have a historical right to exist,
and as such, we should continue to exist.
The free ranging of cattle has been occurring since the early 1800s, across Texas.
Recently, free cattle ranching has begun on the Southern Plains. The Southern Plains is an
ideal location for the free ranching of cattle: lots of open land with abundant grasses for the
cattle to feed upon. To take away these resources and the land would be a tragedy for the
cowboy. Our lifestyle would be destroyed, and as such, so would our jobs. We should not be
forced to give up our jobs just so other people can move onto our land and use it for their
benefit.
The cowboy is a symbol of freedom and the American spirit. To destroy the American
Cowboy would be the same as destroying America’s freedom, which we all cherish.
We must make sure that the United States does not turn into a land of private property,
fenced in by barbed wire. Instead, the U.S. should be free, and allow equal access to the land
and resources of the Southern Plains. This situation would allow the most amount of people to
benefit.
Activity: The Barbed Wire Dilemma
The Farmers and Ranchers Perspective
It is 1883, on the Southern Plains. A town hall meeting has convened to discuss and decide
on the use of barbed wire for ranchers and farms. You have been assigned the role as a
delegate for all farmers and ranchers on the Southern Plains. It is your duty to make sure all
know at the meeting that the use of barbed wire fencing is the most appropriate for farming and
ranching.
Before the invention of barbed wire, the lack of effective fencing limited the range of farming
and ranching practices, and with it the number of people who could settle in an area. Wooden
fences are costly and difficult to acquire on the prairie of the Southern Plains, where few trees
grow. Likewise, rock sources for stone walls - commonly found in New England - are highly
localized on the plains, and rock walls are impractical for the many miles of fencing needed for
the vast ranches. Shrubs and hedges take too long to grow to be of much use for fencing tracks
of land. Therefore, barbed wire is cheaper, easier, and quicker to use than any of the
alternatives.
The United States government has told the public that the land of the Southern Plains is not
owned by anyone. This is a known fact from the Homesteading Act of 1862, which allows any
head of family to apply for a land grant for unowned public lands. If Native Americans do not
own the land, then other pioneers should be allowed to use the land for their families’ benefit.
This includes the use of barbed wire fences for ranching and farming.
The same can be said of the herders and ranchers. They do not have legal ownership of
the land that they are using. However, we have gotten legal permission from the United States
government to own the land and improve it through farming and ranching practices. We are
acting in a legal manner to provide a better life for our families and for the good of the United
States. In light of these facts, how can our request for the use of barbed wire fences be denied.
Cowboys claim that we are taking away their jobs and lifestyles. However, many
ranches need the skills of cowboys to operate effectively. We would be providing a better job
and way of life for the cowboy if they would work on fenced ranches. Native Americans claim
that we are taking their land. However, the Comanche took the land they live on today away
from the Apache. We are simply doing exactly what the Comanche did. Besides, there is
plenty of land not occupied.