USA HISTORY

WESTWARD EXPANSION INDUSTRIALIZATION URBANIZATION 1870 1900

WESTWARD EXPANSION

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
What did farmers use to protect their land from the cowboys?
A
Guns
B
Tape
C
Talking
D
Barbed wire
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Barbed wire was a farmer’s product at first, but cattlemen eventually adopted it to fence off their larger tracts of land. Barbed wire became an important factor in changing the cattle industry, as the free, open range became parceled off by barbed wire.

Detailed explanation-2: -Vast and undefined prairies and plains yielded to range management, farming, and ultimately, widespread settlement. As the use of barbed wire increased, wide open spaces became less wide, less open, and less spacious, and the days of the free roaming cowboy were numbered.

Detailed explanation-3: -Barbed wire is cited by historians as the invention that tamed the West. Herding large numbers of cattle on open range required significant manpower to catch strays. Barbed wire provided an inexpensive method to control the movement of cattle.

Detailed explanation-4: -In the Old West, ranchers and settlers needed a way to protect and keep control of their herd, as well as maintain their lands. A feat easier said than done, until the invention of barbed wire.

Detailed explanation-5: -Barbed wire did most of the cowboy’s job and with the low profits being made off cattle, the position on the ranch was no longer needed and could no longer be afforded. It is ironic that barbed wire is so often associated with cowboy culture because it was so closely intertwined with their end.

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