A fence that could be built without digging holes

Because barbed wire was not available until the 1880s, early pioneers had to build wood fences. Fence designs differed from place to place but this picture taken in Oak City in 2002 illustrates what remains there of a type locally called a "bull fence." In 1868 Thomas Morgan and others built a fence made from cedar posts around 360 acres of cropland west of Oak City to keep commonly herded livestock out of the crops. The fence pictured above was made by stacking cedar posts in an "X" pattern with a post laid in the "V" so that they are supported by the ones in front and below. To keep smaller livestock from crawling through the fence it was stuffed with brush. This one has had wire added.