The HISTORYIn 1876 salesman John W. Gates brought barbed wire to Texas when he wagered $1 ... The POSTS. A fence is only ... Brace each end post using a piece of wood nailed ...

Behold the humble barbed-wire fence, the five-strand sentinel of Texas woods and plains. Untold thousands of miles of barbed-wire fence divide the state, so ubiquitous outside the city centers ...

For my first fence, I used 14-gauge wire and barbed wire. Both are bad choices for an electric fence. That size of wire is simply too weak for permanent use, and it kinks and breaks easily.

Barbed wire continued to be used across the country at farmsteads and homesteads for containing livestock. Many of these former places now comprise the area we know today as Fort McCoy.