Did you know? Inventor of the most widely used barbed wire is from Illinois

The year was 1872, and Lucinda Glidden was perplexed. Her large wire hairpins were missing, and her daughter denied taking them for her own hair. She was contemplating the missing items as her whole family sat down for supper. Suddenly, she noticed her husband, Joseph F. Glidden, take two of the missing hairpins out of his pocket. Confused she asked, “Joseph, what are you doing with my hairpins?” He replied he was working on making a new fence to help keep their livestock in their yard. Lucinda was left with more questions than she had started with.

Joseph F. Glidden, from DeKalb, invented the most widely used barbed wire in the nation and patented his idea in 1874. What started out as an idea with his wife’s hairpins, turned into a popular and easy to produce barbed wire design that included two strands of wire twisted together to hold the barbs firmly in place. Previous versions of barbed wire had already existed, but it was Glidden’s design that made barbed wire a commonly used item on farmlands all around the country.

His design helped to forever change the outlook of the American Midwest. The barbed wire was well suited to mass production. Farmers quickly realized Glidden’s wires were the cheapest, strongest and most durable way to fence their property. Wood fencing was very expensive at the time, so Glidden’s wire gave even poorer farmers the capability to protect their farms and grazing herds of sheep and cattle. The large amounts of barbed wire fencing all over the Great Plains virtually brought the open range cattle industry to an end. Gone was the need to drive cattle over miles of unfenced land. Joseph Glidden’s barbed wire changed the farming and herding industries, allowing more people to protect their farms and animals. This was all thanks to the idea of one man and his wife’s hairpins.

Spotted in Illinois: The Wicked Witch! Or so it seemed

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a witch? It’s a ghost? It’s Superman? No, it’s a bird! Residents in Eureka were convinced they saw the wicked witch flying around on her broomstick in their neighborhood. It made sense, Halloween was a couple weeks away, why wouldn’t the witches come out to play? As it turned out, the so-called witch was actually an owl flying around with a child’s toy it had stolen earlier that day. The image circulating was caught by Eric Lind outside of his parents’ house. Too see the video Lind captured of the owl, visit here.

The toy was a stick horse, and the bird was a great horned owl. Great horned owls are known for their long, earlike tufts, intimidating yellow-eyes stare, and deep hooting voice. They are the inspiration for the quintessential owls found in storybooks, so it is only fitting one was mistaken for a storybook witch. The owl thief snuck into someone’s home and stole the toy of their child. Why the owl seemed to make friends with the horse is unclear. Some have suggested its similarity in size to mice drew the owl in, others reference how juvenile red-tailed hawks have been reported to play with inanimate objects, so the owl could be doing the same. Either way it was drawn to the toy and the owl’s silhouette made a convincing witch. Luckily for those in Eureka, this was merely a cute owl playing with its new friend.

Then again, one of the powers of a witch can include turning into an animal, and an owl is a known companion to some storybook villains. So who knows? Maybe witches really do roam among us and this one turned back into an owl just in the knack of time. Either way, they arrived in Eureka just in time for spooky season.    

Du Quoin State Fair has highest attendance level in its history

Corn dogs, cotton candy, ferris wheels and carnival games. Nothing brings out fond memories like the smell of fried food and shouts of joy at local state fairs. The Du Quoin State Fair recently had its 100^th annual fair, with attendance levels reaching an all-time high in the fair’s history. This marks a historic occasion for the fair, having its centennial anniversary coincide with record attendance. Over 170,000 people attended the Du Quoin State Fair this year, which was a 13.5% increase from attendance in 2021. Attendance in 2021 was 150,186 people. 2022 is the third year in a row that the fair has seen a steady increase in attendance numbers. The Du Quoin State Fair is growing in notoriety, which is a welcome benefit to the residents and businesses of the city. The Du Quoin State Fair this year generated over $320,000 in profit.

In addition to games and food, the fair also had a number of live music shows. Du Quoin was host to seven concert performances, which drew in over 11,500 people. One such artist was Cole Swindell, a country artists, who had over 3,500 tickets sold for his performance. Swindell’s performance was the fourth largest attended show in the Du Quoin State Fair’s history since 2012. It was lucky Swindell’s performance was so popular, as the fair had an unfortunate last-minute cancellation from country artist Randy House this year, making the grandstand stage to sit empty for the first times in years.

Despite that hiccup, this year’s Du Quoin State Fair was still a raging success filled with plenty of fun times for families and individuals. If anyone wants to add to the growing number of attendees to this famous and enjoyable State Fair, the 2023 Du Quoin State Fair will run Aug. 25 – Sept. 4.

Living fossils in Illinois? Mountain Lions retuning to the state

Fans of the Kane Country Cougars, an American Association of Professional baseball team in Geneva, will be happy to hear their mascot is coming back to the state. Cougars, also known as pumas or mountain lions, have had an increase in sightings in Illinois over recent years.

Mountain lions were all but extinct in Illinois, having been eradicated from the state prior to the 1870s due to habitat loss and overharvesting, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. IDNR has reported only eight mountain lions have been found in Illinois in the last 20 years – two of the eight being in recent years. One was hit and killed on a highway in DeKalb County. The mountain lion’s body has been sent to the University of Illinois to be studied. It is believed this mountain lion migrated somewhere from the west. IDNR is currently tracking the second mountain lion in Illinois. This cougar is from Nebraska and has a GPS monitor. Sightings of these animals are becoming more frequent after having been absent from the state for so long. However, while mountain lions might sound intimidating, IDNR urges residents not to worry.

Mountain lions are unlikely to make contact with or harm humans. If someone comes across one of these cats, it is suggested to stand tall, look large, keep your eye on the animal, and slowly back away. It is not advised to run or try to intimidate them, they will generally ignore people if people ignore them. IDNR officials are also reminding the public that it is illegal to hunt, kill or harass mountain lions unless they pose an imminent threat. Cougars have been protected in Illinois since 2015.

If you want more information about the second mountain lion in Illinois, who originated from Nebraska, or if you want to report a sighting of another possible cat, you can do so here.