1. Chapter 21: The Cattle Kingdom
Section 4: The Closing of the Open Range

2. Fencing the Open Range
• Problems:
– Farmers wanted to keep stray cattle
out of crops
– Little wood on plains to build fences
– Illinois woman asks husband to create
a fence to keep dogs out of garden

3. Barbed Wire

4. Fencing the Open Range
• Joseph F.
Glidden—
Illinois
farmer who
invented
barbed wire
Joseph Glidden

9. Fencing the Open Range
• Glidden opened a factory to
produce wire
• “Light as air…cheap as dirt”
• Made large scale fencing
easy & inexpensive

10. Fencing the Open Range
• The cattle kingdom
began to disappear
after fences started to
enclose the open range

11. The Range Wars
• Barbed wire presented problems:
– Small property owners
surrounded
– Public roads blocked off & mail
delivery disrupted
– Water sources fenced off

12. The Range Wars
• Range War—armed
conflict over fencing and
sheep that erupted during
the 1880s

13. The Range Wars
• Fence cutting becomes a major issue
• 1884: Gov. John Ireland calls an
emergency session of the legislature:
– Fence cutting illegal
– Gates every three miles
– Illegal to fence land you do not own

14. The Range Wars
• In parts of
Texas that
were too
rugged and
dry for cattle,
some ranchers
turned to
sheep herding.

16. Legacy of the Open
Range
• Death of the Open Range:
– Barbed wire and fencing of open
range
– Extension of rail lines &
refrigerated railcars
– Overgrazing of land

17. Legacy of the Open
Range
• Death of the open range:
– Introduction of windmills &
expansion of farming onto the
Plains
– Expansion of sheep ranching
• Cattle ranching an important
part of Texas’ legacy & economy