Barbed Wire, Windmills and Railroads: The Technology that Really Won the West

In Arizona and throughout the West, three innovations helped make farming and living possible: Windmills brought groundwater to the surface, barbed wire sectioned the vast landscape into parcels, and railroads moved men, women, families and materials from back east. In the old West, there were over 8 million windmills, a man caught cutting down a barbed wire fence was often found hanging from a rope, and railroads gave us time zones and the Blue Plate Special. Brave men and women won the West but the new technology made it possible.

Steve Renzi, a University of Arizona graduate with a degree in history, believes that every generation must learn about who and what came before them or else the lessons learned are lost. As a writer and photographer with a teacher’s certificate in secondary education, Renzi is always searching for new ways of exploring our history. He has been published in over 200 magazine and newspaper articles and is currently a writing and photography teacher, as well as a basketball coach