If you look at the table of contents for my book, Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook, you’ll see that entries on networks before/outside the internet are arranged first by underlying infrastructure and then chronologically. You’ll also notice that within the section on wired networks, there are two sub-sections: one for electrical wire and another for barbed wire. Even though the barbed wire section is quite short, it was one of the most fascinating to research and write about – mostly because the history of using barbed wire to communicate is surprisingly long and almost entirely undocumented, even though barbed wire fence phones in particular were an essential part of early- to mid-twentieth century rural life in many parts of the U.S. and Canada!
While I was researching barbed wire fence phones and wondering whether any artists had been intrepid enough to experiment with this other network, I came across Phil Peters and David Rueter‘s work “Barbed Wire Fence Telephone” which they installed in a Chicago gallery in 2015. libi striegl (Managing Director of the Media Archaeology Lab through which we run many of our Other Networks projects) and I decided we should see if we can get Peters and Rueter to re-install their barbed wire fence telephone on the CU Boulder campus…to our delight and surprise, they said yes. But even more delightful and surprising was the fact that the college I’m now based in, the College of Media, Communication, and Information (CMCI), was enthusiastically supportive of our ask to install this fence phone network in a university classroom! In fact, not only was CMCI supportive in principle, they helped fund the project and staff members even helped us drill holes, put up fence posts, and string barbed wire. Phil and libi (with modest assistance from me) wrapped up the installation of “Barbed Wire Fence Telephone II” on Thursday August 29th and on Friday August 30th Phil gave a group of about 20 people a hands-on demo of this ad hoc network.
Since so little documentation exists online about the history of this important communication network, below I include the introduction I wrote for the section on barbed wire along with the entry on barbed wire fence phones. I admit I hope someone adds this information to Wikipedia and cites either this post or Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook (forthcoming in 2025 by Anthology Editions).
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Barbed Wire Networks
Barbed wire was originally proposed as an inexpensive and potentially painful material that could be used to create a fence and thus act as a deterrent to keep livestock within a confined area and/or to keep out intruders. Alan Krell documents numerous designs for wire that featured barbs throughout the 19th century, including one proposed by French inventor Léonce Eugène Grassin-Baledans in 1860 for a “Grating of wire-work for fences and other purposes.” The first patent in the U.S. for a wire fence featuring barbs was given to Lucien B. Smith from Kent, Ohio (U.S.) in 1867. Illinois farmer Joseph Glidden submitted a patent for an improved version of barbed wire in 1874 which has since become the dominant design. As Reviel Netz puts it, after this point the physical control of wide open spaces was largely complete. Many farmers objected to the cruelty built into barbed wire, the way in which the fencing meant cattle drives were no longer possible, and the way it marked the end of seemingly free and open public land; notably they formed anti-barbed-wire associations and pleaded with legislators and government officials to enact laws limiting or regulating the use of the wire. Nonetheless, as the price of wire fell from twenty cents per pound in 1874 to two cents a pound by 1893, few ranchers could afford any other type of fencing material. By the 1890s, the barbed wire industry had become wealthy enough and powerful enough that they effectively quelled all opposition to the wire. The availability of inexpensive barbed wire, especially across the western U.S. in the late 19th century, largely made it possible to keep larger herds of livestock than had been possible up to that point. It also played a significant role in “settling” the American west by violently asserting individual ownership over land that was already occupied by Native Americans.
Appropriately nicknamed ‘the devil’s rope,’ barbed wire is made from steel (later coated in zinc, a zinc-aluminum alloy, or a kind of polymer coating such as polyvinyl chloride) and single or double barbs placed roughly four to six inches apart. To erect a fence, one only needs barbed wire, posts, and materials to afix the wire to the posts. Finally, although this section focuses on its use as a cooperative, non-commercial form of telecommunications network, it is also worth noting the frequent use barbed wire for trench warfare or as a security measure atop walls or buildings.
Sources: Alan Krell, The Devil’s Rope: A Cultural History of Barbed Wire (Reaktion Books, 2002); Léonce Eugène Grassin-Baledans, “Grating of wire-work for fences and other purposes,” France Patent 45827; Lucien B. Smith, “Wire Fence,” US Patent 66182A (25 June 1867); Joseph Glidden, “Improvement in Wire Fences,” US Patent 157124A (27 OCtober 1873); Reviel Netz, Barbed Wire: An Ecology of Modernity (Wesleyan University Press, 2009)
53. Fence Phones
Country of Origin: U.S.A.
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