Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-03-31
An Evolur,o. o. FENCES.

An evVSOJeVW W eSWSeOs
Running out from the point Of . low
wooded ridge seen ~ the train new
past the other day the passengers saw
a line Of rail fence. old fashioned. sig-
gag rail fence made Of split rails and
staked and rddered. It was as curious
in Iowa as though . band Of deer had
| broken across q GLADE in full view or
| a buffalo numbered down the hill.
Not even the farms have changed
| more than the fences nor Is an auto
| mobile or q traction pillow more sisni-
| ficant Of change than a woven wire
fence with cement posts. The rail
fence was the pioneer Of all fences. 1t
stood there in trees when the pioneer
! came to his farm. ready to be chopped
| and split and chunked. /. had only
! one predecessor, the brush fence but
that has no more sanding in this story
all.
Rail fences were made out OF wood
| that would nowadays be sought to
finish palaces. A straight smooth black
! walnut tree, any good straigh; grained
tree that would split straight was none
| too good for fencing in the early days.
+. The tree was felled, chopped into logs
! of about twelve feet and split into as
many lengths Of three cornered rails as
F! the logs would furnish. The fence
maker laid chunk on the ground at
another after the fashion of building
log house and thus raised a zigzag
| barrier six, eight or ten rails high.
Then at each corner he drove stakes
/ crossing at the top and on these laid
| his heaviest stop rail-" 1t was
strong fence It turned stock. horse
high and bull strong. With careful
patching Of hog holes" 1t made a very
/ effective fence.
| 1t lasted in-erminably. It's rails
grew messy and damp and the sumach
| sprung in its corners to flame like
autumn torches The ferns crowded
the damp spots. Among them and
under the sumachs the cock pheasants
strutted with spreading rufs in the
spring and the hen birds nested in its
shelter where It ran thru the thickets
and the deep woods. Its shady hooks
were blue with early violets and the
anemous always fourished by the old
rail fence. Squirrels made the old top
rail a thoroughfare. Whoever has
been a boy living at the edge Of the
spring and summer mysteries knows
rail fences
II went its way with the woods and
the pioneers and the grouse that drum
med beside it. Some one started
sawmill and the rail industry faded.
the mortised post saved rails and the
sawnill saved labor. Then the
"pineres' began sending down those
mighty RATS of logs the sawmilis null
! ttplied along the river and six inch
clear pine fencing sold at SO thousand.
J " Itlic Guns DC DdO dl!uISt 1ci
the hauling And those cuIls were bet
| ter lumber than some finishing" is to-
day. There were millions OF fence
posts in the big woods white oak, burr
oak, walnut, butternut and locust and
a post Of genuine red cedar. the kind
| that is scrayed up and glued together
| in scraps today to make uilady's cedar
| chest could be bought for dime. And
when the big woods were gone and the
pineries had become brush heaps some
/ one stuck barb on the smooth wire
which had been failure and the sub
stitute had been found. And so the
farm fence evolved with the other
! phases of farm evolution
But the old rail fence was com
| bination Of beauty and utility 1t ap-
pealed TO the practical man who pro-
posed to keep out his neighbours stock
and to the esthete. 1t failed Of
appeal to the boy whose unesthetic
! father set him moving out the fence
corners Of hot summer day but at
that a glimpse Of sake and ridered
fence today is like an hour with old
friends.