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The Winner

by | Sep 22, 2022 | Inside History, Investigating History

Joseph Glidden’s invention won the West. In the fall of 1873, Joseph Glidden did what many farmers did and do: he went to the county fair. In this case, it was DeKalb County, Illinois, due west of Chicago and south of Rockford. For Glidden, the annual fair turned out to be life changing. He saw an invention, created by another local farmer—fencing that featured metal barbs sticking out of a thin wooden rail. The barbs created an incentive for cattle to stay away from the fence and remain i


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