In the mid 1800s, not many (non-native) Americans had ever been west of the Mississippi. When Frederick Law Olmstead visited the west in the 1850s, he remarked that the plains looked like a sea of ...

Roman Mars’ podcast 99% Invisible covers design questions large and small, from his fascination with rebar to the history of slot machines to the great Los Angeles Red Car conspiracy. Here at The Eye, ...

Glidden was an American farmer originally from Charlestown, New Hampshire. After growing up in Clarendon, New York, and finishing school, he returned to his father’s farm to work, according to ...

Barbed wire shaped the American West, but it kills, injures and blocks migrating wildlife. Some ranchers are trying high-tech alternatives that could reduce the need for it. On a list of the most ...

In 1904, the El Paso Herald called for “a barb wire fence along our side of the Rio Grande” to keep out “undesirable aliens.” The newspaper wasn’t referring to Mexicans, but to Chinese immigrants, ...