Rail fences (pic heavy)

[Okanagan]

On a drive through the Douglas Lake Road today one of the old rail fences caught my eye as something that might interest F&F folks so I took a pic and that led to another, etc.

The photo below is of the same fence as the photo above, only looking straight along the zig zag fence as it goes up a mountainside, probably a quarter mile of fence end-on the the photo below.



It looks like several more styles or designs of rail fences in the pics below.  There is a design called stake and rider also but i didn't see any samples of it today.  There are lots of rail fences in the Chicotin/Cariboo regions of British Columbia, and several different ways to make a fence out of rails.








The gate, hinge and latch below is an interesting design.  (Oops:  didn't get the metal strap hinges in the photo)









The corrals and stock working pens at the home ranch are all rails, some of them brand new.

[coyote101]

Very cool pictures.  I'm glad I didn't have to split all of those rails. 

Pat

[shaddragger]

  Dang that's a lot of lumber!!

[Okanagan]

Very cool pictures.  I'm glad I didn't have to split all of those rails. 

Pat

Me too!      BC has millions of skinny lodgepole pines and doug fir that are perfect without splitting, in the round.  In most cases they are handy to the fence also, a short haul or just cut them along the fence line where the fence goes through the jack pine timber.

[iahntr]

Those are very cool pics !
But I'm thinkin, holy smokes, that design, especially in
the second pic, takes about 3 miles of timber to do a mile
of fence line ! 

[HaMeR]

Those fences are always cool to see. I wish I would have taken pics of the rock fences in Ontario last summer now.    Thanks for sharing your ride. 

[FinsnFur]

That was neat.
I've never figured out why they made those zig zags so tight like that. The fact that it takes so much time and material to cover such a small area seems insane.

[Hawks Feather]

Great pictures.  I really like the looks of the fences.

Jerry

[Okanagan]

I've never figured out why they made those zig zags so tight like that. The fact that it takes so much time and material to cover such a small area seems insane.

Jim, I wondered the same at first, though if I could get an aerial view straight down on one of the fences, the angles are straighter than they look from end-on views.  I'm pretty sure the reason for the angles of close to 90 degrees on each bend is to strengthen the fence and keep it standing.  Low angles cover more ground with the length of the rails, but they fall over easy.  And remember, no posts are in the ground on most of these, they just sit there on top of the ground.  That's why some of these show extra leaner poles supporting and propping up the rail connecting points.

As to material, the rails are abundant and close by, so the fence builder can be extravagantly "wasteful" at little cost.    Rails are more labor intensive to build than barbed wire, but not all that much.  If the ground is rocky it becomes labor intensive to get barbed wire posts in the ground, plus untreated posts rot off sooner than a rail fence will fall.  Treated posts and barbed wire cost.  Money was the driver for early day ranchers and still is.  Wooden poles are free (or cheap) and handy in most of British Columbia.

Added:  in the stock handling pens, poles are easier on men and animals than barbed wire.

[FinsnFur]

Thanks Okanagan, that was very interesting
It all makes sense now.

[Frogman]

Cool!  Great pictures in this and the log building thread.  Thanks for sharing!

Jim

[Dave]

Wow, those are some grat pics, Okana.
I've always loved the zig-zag look of those first few pics. 
That gate was interesting.
Thanks for taking the time to post.