The 1862 Homestead Act allowed settlement on the plains, but fencing to prevent cattle from roaming was essential to raising cattle, and that required fenceposts. In the 1870s near present-day Wilson Lake, C.F. Sawyer was one of the first innovators to use stone instead of wood for fenceposts, and others soon followed by cutting them from rock just beneath the sod. By the mid-1880s, limestone fenceposts and barbed wire were widely used. From quarries, posts were hauled to fields by wagon or sled pulled by teams of horses. At each post hole, the heavy end was tipped in first as the base, with holes usually spaced several steps apart. The stones were set with their reddish streaks facing the direction of the fence line to help prevent fracturing during winter, then notched or drilled so barbed wire could be wrapped between them. At their peak, central Kansas had approximately 40,000 miles of stone post fences. Stone post construction became less cost effective and began to decline in the mid-20th century, although some new post rock fences are still built today. Once placed in the ground, posts carried both smooth and barbed wire, with three to eight strands used depending on the animals being contained: fewer for cattle and horses, moderate amounts for sheep or calves, and the most for hogs. Wire was attached in several ways, including notches in the posts, holes drilled through the corner or center, or plugs inserted into partial holes, though plugs could fall out and were less popular.