The Fence-Cutting Wars: How Barbed Wire Closed the Texas Range in 1883

What were the fence-cutting wars?

The fence-cutting wars were a series of conflicts in the late 19th century over the fencing of open range. The Wikipedia article on the fence cutting wars says they began in Texas around 1881 and spread to Colorado, Wyoming and Montana in the later 1880s, and that historian Walter Prescott Webb wrote that wars broke out in Texas, Wyoming, New Mexico and wherever men began to fence.

They were the last major attempts to preserve the open range, and they had a lasting effect on who owned the land.

Why fences set off a war

The Homestead Act of 1862 offered 160 acres to settlers who lived on and improved the land, drawing farmers west. Barbed wire, patented in 1874, first served farmers protecting crops and livestock. Cattlemen later used it to enclose large tracts, which parceled off the open range and led to big-pasture companies.

By the 1880s newcomers' livestock crowded the large herds. Big ranchers fenced water and grazing land, including public land, and homesteaders responded by cutting the wire. Fence cutters were usually small stockmen or farmers, and they also resented that their animals got tangled in the wire and were injured or killed. The Oklahoma Historical Society entry on barbed wire adds that fencing ended the roundup circuit.

Texas in 1883: drought, wire and gunfire

A drought early in 1883 left cattlemen who did not own land short of water and grass, because fenced property blocked their access. Texas had entered the Union holding its own public lands, so many residents expected free public access. Fence cutting was reported in more than half of Texas counties, and cutting crews were organized and often had armed guards.

Cutters called themselves groups such as the Owls, Javelinas and Blue Devils. Ranchers hired armed bands, and the Texas Rangers were sent to the area by mid-1883. Damage was estimated at $20 million by fall 1883. The New York and Texas Land Company, which profited from selling land to homesteaders, backed the cutters. At least three people died, along with Texas Ranger Ben Warren.

The 1884 Texas law

Ranch spokesmen met with the cutters and agreed to remove fences from public roads and unowned or unleased land, and to allow passage through gates, in exchange for an end to wire cutting. The cutting continued anyway, and Governor John Ireland called a special legislative session starting January 8, 1884.

The legislature made fence cutting and pasture burning felonies, punishable by up to five years in prison. Fencing public land became a misdemeanor, and such fences had to be removed within six months. Owners had to remove fences across land they did not own and provide and maintain gates every three miles. By the mid-1880s large-scale fence cutting in Texas had essentially ended.

New Mexico and the later fence fights

In San Miguel County, New Mexico, Mexicano farmers led fence cutting against Anglo land companies and cattlemen who were taking control of public lands. The dispute began when Philip Millhiser bought land held under the Las Vegas Land Grant and sued for the grant's common land too. During 1887 to 1889 Anglo owners fenced enclosures from 1,000 to more than 10,000 acres of grant land.

On May 3, 1889, 21 fence cutters were indicted on 26 counts, but vigilantes surrounded the courthouse and jail. The jury acquitted one man, and charges against the other 20 were dismissed. In Wyoming a court in 1883 ordered a large cattle company to stop fencing public land, and by 1885 barbed wire had largely overrun eastern Wyoming Territory.

Legacy and further reading

The wars left illegal fencing as a more common problem than fence cutting, and historian Susanne Bentley wrote that barbed wire closed off land and closed people in. For the cattle side of the story, read the cattle drives article on Wikiwand, the section the ranching section of farm.FM, or a farm.FM story about barbed wire in Texas.