By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
As the saying goes it tamed the west, Jerry Boxberger says,” it really did tame the west.” The New Mexico Barb Wire Collectors Association held their 43rd annual show in Raton this weekend at the Raton Convention Center.
Next year it will move on to another community in New Mexico where it will share the history of barb wire. In the mid 1800s the need to keep cattle out of or in a pasture was growing. The barb wire was born, an invention of Lucien B. Smith of Kent Ohio according to the first barb wire patent. The wire in its more modern version was patented in 1874 by Joseph F. Glidden of DeKalb Illinois.
Wars have been fought over the wire and its uses have grown from just keeping cattle in or out to other uses of keeping people in or out of a location. it has even been used as fencing for prisons. It is noted in Wikipedia that in the 1880s there was a fence cutters war in Texas as cattle instinctually migrate from the colder north to the warmer south and ranchers or farmers cut the fence to allow the cattle to pass through. In 1884 Texas passed a law making it a felony to cut a fence.
There are over 600 patents for the various incarnations of Barb Wire and even variations of those patents exist. Several of the collectors at the show have amassed some very large collections as seen in the photos below.
