The barb wire actually pitted neighbor against neighbor, and family members against family members. What was known a free range land where cattle were moved from one location to another was no more.
The cattle men now had to contend with land grabs by farmers and those who wanted their own free range land. Large tracks of land was being fenced off all over the states. As the cattlemen tried to maintain their holdings they would hire bounty hunters to tear out the fences as fast as they were being built. The government made the problem even worse by offering to give free land holdings to any person who was willing to settle the range lands.
Many settlers were killed or removed from the land which they had claimed. Some sold land back to the ranches, but most were not that lucky. The development of the railway which was an excellent mode of transportation to move cattle to the markets, destroyed the need for the long cattle drives. The railway, and the new barb wire fencing had literally wiped out the common cowboy.
This took place over a very short time span of about ten years. Some folks will say that home on the range cowboys have all but disappeared.
