Cowboys drive 5 million cattle from Texas to the railroad in Kansas.
牛仔们要将500万头牛，从德克萨斯一直赶到堪萨斯的铁路沿线
The largest migration of livestock in US History.
这是美国历史上最大规模的家畜迁徙
But one simple invention will soon threaten the cowboy's entire way of life.
不过一个简单的发明很快将会对整个牛仔生活方式构成威胁
Barbed wire.
铁丝网
In just 20 years two and a half million new settlers flood into the west.
短短20年内 250万新移民蜂拥来到西部
New farms cover half a billion acres of open range.
5亿英亩的野牧场被辟为农场
A new battle rages,Cattle rancher versus homesteader.
新的战斗初现端倪，牛仔与自耕农之战
Cowboys like Teddy Blue and farmers are on a collision course.
像泰迪·布鲁这样的牛仔和耕种者之间冲突在所难免
They'd plant the crop next to the trail.
他们在牛仔的赶牛沿线种有庄稼
When the cattle got into their wheat,they'd come out waving a shotgun yelling for damages.
一旦牛群踩进了麦田，他们就会挥舞猎枪跳出来要求赔偿损失
Boundary disputes are violent, often deadly.
地界争端导致暴力冲突，常有人死亡
One farmer is determined to find a cheap and effective way to keep livestock off his land,Joseph Glidden.
一名农夫下决心要找到一个花费少且行之有效的方法将牲畜挡在他的地界外，他的名字叫约瑟夫·格利登
When we think about innovation in America,we often think about a big audacious projects like the Apollo project,but there's another strain to American innovation.
一谈及美国人的创新，我们常常想到的是像阿波罗登月这样的宏大工程，但美国的创新还有另一种来源
That's the local inventor.
那就是平民发明家
An individual genius with some passion in the middle of the night coming up with that big transformative idea.
一个天资聪颖的人凭着一股热情在某个深夜脑子里突然蹦出一个伟大而具有革新性的想法
In the fall of 1873, Glidden has a breakthrough.
1873年秋天格利登有了重大突破
Using a coffee grinder he crudely fashions some steel barbs.
他用磨咖啡机大致地拧出了一些钢丝刺
His problem: how to secure them.
现在问题是如何把它们固定好
Glidden's solution: bind the barbs between two links of wire.
格利登的方法是用铁刺连接两股钢丝
His design cuts the price of fencing by 70%.
他的设计使围篱的费用降低了70%
Within 10 years, Glidden sells enough to go around the world 25 times, carving the Plains into countless ranches and farms and blocking the cattle trails.
不到10年，格利登的销售收入足以支付25次环球旅行，大平原被分隔成不计其数的牧场和耕地，放牧线路也被完全隔断
The open range is closed forever.
没有围篱的开放牧场从此退出历史舞台
This single invention made possible the settling of the west much sooner and more efficiently than it would have occurred otherwise.
单凭这样一个发明，就使西部垦荒的速度和效率大大提高比采用其他方式来得更快更好
Teddy blue rides one of the last cattle drives to the railroad.
泰迪·布鲁最后一次赶着牛群来到了铁路
The heyday of the cowboy on the open range lasts only 20 years.
牛仔们在开放大草原上的鼎盛时期只持续了不过20年
But settling the Great Plains will mark the end of one way of life
大平原拓荒潮虽然标志着一种生活方式的结束