DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this stretch of the Panhandle — and it's a story worth pulling over for. Out here on the flat, treeless expanse of the Texas Panhandle, sometime in the latter 1880s, ranchers faced a problem so basic it's almost funny: how do you fence land when there isn't a tree in sight to split for rails? The answer came from a long way off — all the way from Illinois.
A man named Joseph F. Glidden devised what would become the first really practical barbed wire on the market, and by 1876 he was manufacturing it alongside a partner named I. L.
Ellwood. Now, somebody had to bring that wire down to Texas, and that job fell to a man named H. B.
Sanborn, sent south as their agent. He liked what he found well enough that he stayed — and went on to become a builder of the Panhandle himself. Funny how that works.
But here's the thing: not everybody out here was rolling out the welcome mat for barbed wire. Not by a long shot. Ranchers who'd been running cattle across open range wanted free access to water and grass, and a fence looked to them like a wall between them and everything they needed.
Cowboys disliked it too, and for a reason that hit close to home — fenced lands simply didn't need as many range riders. Fewer jobs. The old-timers grew bitter for a different reason: the trails that herds had always been driven along were getting blocked, which meant cattle had to be hauled to market rather than driven on the hoof.
That stings a proud drover something fierce. On the other side of the argument, though, newcomers who'd actually purchased land for ranching wanted fencing so they could use what they'd paid for. Merchants and city-builders wanted it too, because fences meant settlement, and settlement meant business.
So the tension was real — deep and personal on both sides. And yet the wire kept coming. Right here on this site, the T-Anchor ranch — owned by Jot Gunter and William B.
Munson, real estate investors out of Grayson County — built a line fence in 1881. What they were enclosing was no modest little pasture. Two hundred and forty thousand acres.
For horses. Let that number sit with you a moment. Also built in this area, by popular subscription — meaning folks pooled their resources and made it happen together — was what they called a drift fence.
The purpose was simple and urgent: to hold cattle back from wandering south when the blue northers came screaming down and the blizzards hit. You let a herd drift unchecked in that kind of weather, and you might not see them again until spring, if at all. Gradually, the resistance softened.
Barbed wire came into general use across the Panhandle, and the marker says it plainly: it saved the cattle industry. Because once you had fenced ranges, you could make improvements in breeding and feeding that were simply impossible on open land. The very thing that ranchers and cowboys and old trail drivers fought against turned out to be the thing that kept the whole enterprise alive.
That's the Panhandle for you — stubborn, practical, and eventually right.
What the marker says
In the latter 1880s, when fencing was needed in the treeless Texas Panhandle, the solution proved to be barbed wire. Joseph F. Glidden of Illinois devised and by 1876 was manufacturing (with I. L. Ellwood) the first really practical barbed wire on the market. H. B. Sanborn was sent to Texas as their agent, and remained to become a builder of the Panhandle. Wanting free access to water and grass, ranchers at first resisted fencing. Cowboys disliked it, as fewer range riders were needed on fenced lands. The old-timers grew bitter, because of blocked trails -- herds had to be hauled rather than driven to market. Yet, newcomers wanted fencing, in oder to have use of land purchased for ranching. Merchants and city-builders wanted fences, to assure settlement. The T-Anchor, owned by Jot Gunter and William B. Munson, real estate investors of Grayson County, built a line fence on this site in 1881, enclosing a 240,000-acre horse pasture. Also, built in this area, by popular subscription, was a "drift" fence to hold cattle back from wandering south in blue northers and blizzards. Barbed wire gradually came into general use. It saved the cattle industry, because improvements in breeding and feeding were possible on fenced ranges. (1968)