Ranchers Had No Iron for Tools in 1879 — So Cowboys Forged Gear From Broken Rail Spikes and Chains скачать в хорошем качестве

Ranchers Had No Iron for Tools in 1879 — So Cowboys Forged Gear From Broken Rail Spikes and Chains

August 23rd, 1879, a fence post snapped clean through on the Miller Ranch, forty miles east of Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory. The cowboy holding the wire cutters watched the tool's handle crack apart in his hands, the iron jaw separating from the wooden grip. He was three days into repairing five miles of barbed wire fence before winter, and now his only pair of cutting pliers was ruined. The nearest hardware store sat in Cheyenne, a two-day ride each way. By the time he returned with a replacement, snow would be falling across the high plains, and the fence would remain unfinished. Cattle would wander through the gaps. Neighboring ranchers would complain. The job that should have taken a week would stretch into spring. He looked down at the broken tool, then across the grassland toward the Union Pacific tracks cutting through the valley below. Sunlight glinted off something metallic near the rails. He mounted his horse and rode down to investigate. Scattered along the roadbed, half-buried in gravel and dirt, lay dozens of iron railroad spikes, bent or discarded during track maintenance. He dismounted, picked one up, felt its weight. Solid wrought iron, about six inches long, square shaft tapering to a blunt point. He collected a dozen spikes, stuffed them into his saddlebag, and rode back to the ranch house where a small forge sat behind the barn.