Ransom County Notes: At first the county had no section lines, township roads, and fenced pastures. When did fences start criss-crossing the once open range? This news item appeared in the Sheldon Enterprise on April 7, 1885: “Frank Mcilvaine has been hauling barbed wire homewards. Guess there is to be some fencing done on that farm.” And, one year later on April 1, 1886: “Barbed wire is going off so fast that Karl E. Rudd ordered his second carload this week.” The railroad made it possible to receive shipments of a product like this. The railroad had reached Sheldon on November 4, 1882 and Lisbon on December 22, 1882.
