Barbed wire is a critical innovation that shaped the High Plains. Field Editor Lacey Vilhauer takes a look at its origins.

From Pamela Anderson’s iconic barbed wire armband to tribal designs, cartoon characters, ‘tramp stamp’ lower back tattoos, flowers, butterflies, roses, dolphins, suns, Yin and Yang and old ...

And while barbed wire could enforce legal boundaries, many fences were illegal - attempts to commandeer common land for private purposes. As the wire's dominion spread, fights started to break out.