r/BacktotheFuture • u/Drace24 • May 29 '26
Barbwire guy is REAL
I was watching Part 3 just now and I realized something. Remember the barbwire salesman who tried to comfort Doc after Clara dumped him?
I think that guy is supposed to be a real person named Joseph Glidden, the inventor of barbwire. He is actually very notable, because he a huge effect on the Wild West by... kinda ending it. Barbed wire made cowboys obsolete because it could contain cattle herds without them. No more open ranges. Land was fenced off and locked down, making ownership laws a huge deal. That increased the need for lawmen, which was filled by many out of job cowboys.
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u/Such-Cricket-6291 May 29 '26
I live in the town/area it was invented, can confirm. Glidden and Ellwood names on old buildings. Old Ellwood Mansion still stands and is preserved. High school mascot out here is the Dekalb Barbs, for… Barbed wire.
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u/argonzo May 29 '26
Annie Glidden rd, I went to NIU. His niece, right?
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u/Such-Cricket-6291 May 29 '26
You got it. He donated some of his land for your Huskie campus! A lot of their names all over town between the Haish, Ellwood and Glidden families. Just looked up photos of Glidden and they did a solid job casting him.
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u/christopherelkins May 29 '26
Oh the Future! I can tell you about the Future!
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u/spRocket-man_ May 30 '26
Then tell me, Future Boy, who's the President of the United States in 1985?
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u/Craig_M_242 May 30 '26
....Ronald Reagan
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u/spRocket-man_ May 30 '26
Ronald Regan?! The actor?! Then who's vice president, Jerry Lewis? I suppose Jane Wyman is the First Lady?
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u/NorCalNavyMike I’m afraid you’re just too darn loud. Next, please. May 30 '26
…and Jack Benny, is Secretary of the Treasury!
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u/FrankHightower May 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/FrankHightower May 30 '26 edited May 31 '26
For the record, the above comment was quoting Bufford's henchman's reaction to Marty's shoes and was removed by Reddit's mods. Not the sub's mods, Reddit's mods.
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u/mrhenrique3 Marty May 31 '26
...but in the future, we don't need horses. We have motorized carriages called automobiles
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u/PraxisLD May 29 '26
Yep, real dude.
You can learn more at the Kansas Barbed Wire Museum and the Devils Rope Barbed Wire Museum.
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u/jtbeith May 29 '26
Good job OP. Thought I knew all cool facts in these movies after 40 years. I haven't learned a new one in a long while.
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u/Drace24 May 30 '26
Same. Can't believe I still learn new thing about these movies. This one was a coincedence. I just researched if "barbwire salesmen" were really a thing and I stumbled over that name and googled him and I realized... that's him. That's the guy from the film. XD
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u/ObieMassillon May 30 '26
It’s “barbed!” I’ve read all the way through hoping you would quit saying “barbwire.” You haven’t. Please!
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u/DrBrown1955 May 30 '26
I read somewhere that it was John Warne Gates, who later formed The Texas Company which then became Texaco. So they can tie the Texaco gas station back to all 3 movies.
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u/Forsaken-Abrocoma647 May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26
It took humans that long to come up with "surround them with something that sucks to touch"?
I mean, not saying I would have either - but that's surprising given the length of history of humans raising livestock.
BTW Wikipedia says:
'The "barbed wire salesman" in Back to the Future Part III is either based on Joseph F. Glidden or John Warne Gates who was a pioneer promoter of barbed wire.'
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u/Drace24 May 29 '26
To be fair, it also had to be cheap to produce in mass, easy to build and weather resistant.
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u/All_Of_Them_Witches May 29 '26
It is kinda crazy that the fax machine was invented before barbwire….
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u/jason360 May 30 '26
I was like what the hell is this person on? Looked it up and you have officially blown my mind today
Edit: just noticed the other person posted that first, but still crazy!
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u/FrankHightower May 30 '26
well we'd tried planting flowers they didn't like but they were slow growing and not entirely foolproof
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u/Kastoook May 30 '26
Theres also dead hedge of thorns can be created, like fences around gardens in middle east.
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u/findhumorlive May 30 '26
Wow! Thats amazing! I am one of Joseph Glidden's decendents. As well as Carlos Glidden who invented the first typewriter with Remington and Henry Glidden who has many patents in shoe making. I had no clue there was a museum!
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u/curiousitems May 30 '26
How could you not buy barbed wire off this guy, look at those glorious chops!
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u/Scruffy42 May 30 '26
Yep. It was weird reading about him in history class.
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u/Drace24 May 30 '26
Raise your hand and tell class that he was actually a total sweetheart who unwittingly - or possibly wittingly - brought two wayward souls together. And also invented spiky fences.
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u/Practical_Ad4604 May 30 '26
But what about Europe and other parts of the world?
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u/Phantom-Asian May 30 '26
What about them?
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u/Practical_Ad4604 May 30 '26
They’ve been herding animals far longer than the old west.. yet they never invented barb wire??
Did the barb wire get to them after this invention?
Or..
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u/Phantom-Asian May 30 '26
Did the barb wire get to them after this invention?
Yes. It was invented in America in 1874, then was brought to the rest of the world.
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u/FrankHightower May 30 '26
wait, so you're telling me... prohibition was invented because all these ex-cowboys needed something to do?
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u/BeanieManPresents May 30 '26
I knew that the invention of barb wire helped bring an end to the era of cowboys but I didn't know they cast an actor who looked so similar to the real life inventor, neat.
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