Until the mid-1880's, no range fences existed in the Texas Panhandle, so when winter blizzards came, cattle drifted from Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas to Texas ranches in the Canadian River breaks, including Box T, K, CC, Turkey Tract, LX, LIT and LE. The influx overgrazed these ranches, and by spring roundup there were as many northern as local cattle in the herds. To avoid the costly and time-consuming work of separating the cattle, each Texas rancher agreed to build a fence along his north boundary line. The resulting fence was 200 miles long, running from the northeast corner of the Panhandle southwest to near the future site of Dumas, then west about 35 miles into New Mexico. It was a four-strand, four-bars fence with posts 30 feet apart and a gate every 3 miles, using about 65 carloads of wire and posts hauled from Dodge City. In 1890, to comply with an 1889 state law prohibiting any fence from crossing or enclosing public property, most of the fence was removed.