I took a trip to Europe the end of
June and saw all sorts of things that sparked ideas for stories and even blog
entries. One of our excursions took us to the Zaanse Schans, an open air museum
featuring wooden houses, windmills, warehouses and businesses from the 17th
and 18th century Zaan region of the Netherlands. In 1594, Cornelis
Corneliszoon van Uitgeest invented a crankshaft that made it possible to turn
horizontal wind direction into a vertical sawing movement. In its heyday, the
Zaan region sported over 600 windmills capable of sawing wood and powering
other ingenious apparatuses, one of which was a washing mechanism for clothing.
Of course, the Dutch and German
immigrants to the United States brought with them the technology for building
these windmills. But western settlers needed the windmill to do more than saw
wood or power machinery. They needed the windmill to pump water and in 1854,
Daniel Hallady provided the plans for such a windmill. The first American
windmill was built in Ellington, Connecticut and sported a vane or “tail”, the
name given it by Texas cowboys.This
“tail” directed the wheel into the wind. By 1888, wooden blades were replaced
by galvanized steel and while ranchers debated the use of wooden windmills
against the newer backgeared designs, by 1912 only a handful of wooden bladed
windmills could be found for purchase.
The windmill was used as a sort of
experiment in Texas when barbed wire first came into use. With the land fenced,
access to water holes, springs, rivers and creeks became difficult so farmers
and ranchers needed a way to dig for water. The first attempts to pump water
using a windmill met with little success as few understood the ratio needed for
the size of windmill in relation to the depth and width of the well, but
Christopher Doty of Schleicher County, Texas had one of the earlier successful
windmills.
In 1882, due to a drought, “he ordered a
drilling rig from Fort Scott, Arkansas, bored a fifty-two-foot well, and
erected a Star windmill, which successfully supplied water for his 4,000 head
of stock.” ~ Texas Online. Others followed suit but The King Ranch’s extensive
use of the windmill played the most influencial role for the windmill in Texas
and by the 1990s, the practice of using windmills to water stock became a
common endeavor.
The need for
windmillsgave rise to a career in the
old west that few really think about. I’m always looking for more uniquecareers to bestow upon my characters so maybe
these will inspire others. The driller, usually a loner, followed fence crews
until he could determine the best location for water. He bore well holes with a
horse powered drilling rig. If he met with success and found water, the
windmiller took over and set up the windmill. Windmillers were also employed by
the larger ranchers to insure the equipment stayed in good working order. The
range rider greased the windmills twice a week. The need for this duty lasted
until 1912 when a dvancements in the design of the mill offered a self greasing
mechanism that only had to be fed oil once a year. “Though Texas became the largest user of windmills in the United States, there were never more than three active manufacturers of windmills in Texas at one time.” ~ Texas Online.
But, while the windmill did wonders for Texas cattle ranches, I'd like to share with you a short video I took of the power of windmills in The Netherlands. At the Zaanse Schans, they had on display a 18th century laundry. The windmill powered the mechanism that agitated three tubs of wash. I was fascinated.
When I began
watercolor lessons, the first scene I painted was of a windmill at sunset. Not
original nor very good, but I love both windmills and sunsets. Although they’re
difficult to find now, I love the old wooden frame style windmill best. I also
miss the song a windmill sings during a breezy day or evening. With the windows
open, the sound is a lullaby at bedtime. Don’t get me wrong, I love modern
conveniences, but they’re a trade-off. We lose something with each part of our
past that disappears.
Due to my love for
the life-giving machines, I included them in two of my books. BRAZOS BRIDE has
been released in 2012 and re-released as part of a boxed set: MEN OF STONE
MOUNTAIN: MICAH, ZACH, JOEL. And TEXAS LIGHTNING, a time travel in progress, in which the heroine loves the sound of windmills. These books led to research about windmills which involved more than
just loving to look at and listen to them.
Over 80,000 working
windmills are estimated to be working now in Texas. You can’t drive on any road
without seeing them in the distance. They are of particular service to ranchers
in the arid regions. Land that once was almost useless to ranchers became
valuable once windmills were erected. The windmill has come to be one of the
symbols of ranching and cowboys. Once I started researching them, I was
surprised the type I have come to love was not as old as I’d suspected.
Range windmill purchased from Kozzi
Before the introduction of windmills to Texas and the West,
inhabitable land was confined to areas where a constant water supply was
available. There was no way for vast areas to be settled without a life-giving
supply of water. The coming of the windmill made it possible to pump water from
beneath the ground, and soon whole new areas were opened up to settlers. The
first windmills were of the European style, built by Dutch and German
immigrants for grinding meal and powering light industry. What settlers needed
most, however, was a windmill that pumped water.
Because of its bulk and need for constant attention, the
European windmill was impractical for this purpose. The solution to this
problem came in 1854, when Daniel Halladay (Halady or Halliday) built the first
American windmill in Ellington, Connecticut. He added to his mill a vane, or
"tail," as it was called by cowhands, that functioned to direct the
wheel into the wind. The wheel was a circle of wood slats radiating from a
horizontal shaft and set at angles to the wind, designed so that centrifugal
force would slow it in high winds; thus, the machine was self-regulating and
operated unattended. Its simple direct-stroke energy converter consisted of
only a shaft and a small fly wheel to which the sucker rod was pinned. This
compact mechanism was mounted on a four-legged wood tower that could be
constructed over a well in one day.
Triple windmills purchased from Kozzi
Railroad companies immediately recognized windmills as an
inexpensive means of providing water for steam engines and for attracting
settlers to semi-arid regions through which they planned to lay track. By 1873
the windmill had become an important supplier of water for railways, small
towns where there were no public water systems, and small farms. Many of the
very early mills were crude, inefficient, homemade contraptions. One of the
popular makeshift mills was a wagon wheel with slats nailed around it to catch
the wind, mounted on half an axle. The axle was fastened securely to a post
erected beside the well. A sucker rod was pinned to the edge of the hub. It was
stationary and worked only when the wind blew in the right direction. The windmills
used later on the big ranches were the more dependable factory-made windmills.
Windmills moved to the ranches with the use of barbed wire
in the late 1870s. At first the water holes, springs, creeks, and rivers were
fenced, so that the back lands had no access to water. In the midst of the fence
cutting and fighting, some ranchers began drilling wells and experimenting with
windmills. Most of these experiments were unsuccessful, however, due to lack of
knowledge concerning the proper size of the windmill in relation to the depth
and diameter of the well. One of the earliest successful experiments was made
eight miles north of Eldorado, in Schleicher County, Texas by Christopher C.
Doty, a nomadic sheepman. Doty moved his flock into that area and found
abundant water in shallow wells. By 1882, however, a drought had dried his
wells; he ordered a drilling rig from Fort Scott, Arkansas, bored a
fifty-two-foot well, and erected a Star windmill, which successfully supplied
water for his 4,000 head of stock.
Lone windmill at sunset Purchased from Kozzi
Watering stock with windmills spread rapidly. Eastern land
speculators began buying, fencing, and running stock on the land until it
became ripe for colonization. Among the first of these speculators to
indirectly bring windmills to North Texas was the Magnolia Cattle and Land
Company, organized by Maj. Willa V. Johnson, In 1884 the company bought
two-thirds of the state-owned land in Borden County, land which had natural
water resources and had long been unofficially claimed for grazing by
Christopher Columbus Slaughter. Once Johnson fenced the land, Slaughter was
forced into the use of windmills to supply water for his cattle. By 1886 the
Matador Land and Cattle Company (where years later my husband’s uncle worked)
began using windmills to water stock.
The largest of the Eastern land speculators, the Capitol
Syndicate, began using windmills on its XIT in 1887. One of their windmills was
believed to be the world's tallest; it was made of wood and was a total height
of 132 feet. A Texas historical marker at Littlefield marks the site of a
replica of the world's tallest windmill built on the XIT Ranch. The original
windmill blew over in 1926. By 1900 the XIT had 335 windmills in operation.
Not until the King Ranch began extensive use of the windmill
in 1890 did that the practice began to spread rapidly over that area. By 1900
windmills were a common sight in the Texas and the West. Inhabitable land was
no longer limited to regions with a natural water supply. The windmill made the
most remote areas habitable.
The use of windmills brought about two of the most colorful
characters of the West, the driller and the windmiller, and altered the
lifestyle of another, the range rider. The driller was usually a loner and
seldom seen by anyone except the range rider and windmiller. He followed the
fence crews and guessed at where he might find water, then bored wells with his
horse-powered drilling rig. When the driller was successful the windmiller
followed and set up a mill. Owners of the larger ranches usually employed
several windmillers to make continuous rounds, checking and repairing
windmills. The windmillers lived in covered wagons and only saw headquarters
once or twice a month. The early mills had to be greased twice a week, and this
was the range rider's job. He kept a can (or beer bottle) containing grease
tied to his saddle. When he rode up to a mill that was squeaking, he would
climb it, hold the wheel with a pole until he could mount the platform, and
then let the wheel turn while he poured grease over it.
The lonely windmiller
The range rider was always in danger of attacks from swarms
of wasps, which hung their clustered cells beneath the windmill's platform;
there was the added danger of falling from the tower when such attacks
occurred. The windmill industry's shift in 1888 to the backgeared, all-steel
mill caused heated debates in Texas livestock and farming circles. Most
ranchers and farmers welcomed the new steel windmill because its galvanized
wheel and tower held up better in harsh weather; also, its gear system was
better able to take advantage of the wind, thus enabling the windmill to run
more hours per day. The backgeared mill could also pump deeper and
larger-diameter wells. Those who favored the old wood mill argued that the
steel mill was more likely to break because of its high speed, that it was not
as easily repaired as the wood mill, and that when parts had to be ordered the
steel mill might be inoperative for days. Though sales of wood mills continued,
they declined steadily, so that by 1912 few were being sold.
The last major development in the windmill came in 1915. A
housing that needed to be filled with oil only once a year was built around the
mill's gears. This relieved the range rider of his biweekly greasing chores and
somewhat diminished the windmiller's job. Because of the dependability of this
improved windmill, worries over water shortages were eased for the rancher,
farmer, and rural dweller. This mill was the prime supplier of water in rural
Texas until 1930, when electric and gasoline pumps began to be widely used.
Though Texas became the largest user of windmills in the
United States, there were never more than three active manufacturers of
windmills in Texas at one time. Windmills remain an important supplier of water
for Texas cattlemen. The King Ranch in the late 1960s kept 262 mills running
continuously and 100 complete spares in stock. Stocking spare mills is a common
practice among ranchers who depend on the windmill to supply water for cattle
in remote pastures. One important ranch worker is the man who rides—or
drives—from windmill to windmill lubricating the gears and making repairs.
Because the windmill has been confined for the most part to
remote areas, it has become a symbol of a lonely and primitive life, fitting
for the pioneer Texans it first served and the cowboys about whom we love to
read. Let me leave you with one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite
groups: Sons of the Pioneers with “Cool, Clear Water.”
When I took watercolor lessons, the first scene I
painted was of a windmill at sunset. Not original, nor was it very good, but it was indicative of my love for both
windmills and sunsets. Although they’re difficult to find now, my favorite are the old
wooden-frame style windmills shown in the photo below. The land on which we live had a metal windmill, now
down for repair due to a rude tornado that tore through the orchard. That part
of our land has been sold to a neighbor, so it’s no longer our problem. However, I miss
looking out the window and seeing that windmill turning. Our windmill was a Chicago Aeromotor, one of the major brands used in in the United States.
Ranching Heritage Museum, Texas Tech University Lubbock, Texas - photo by author
I also miss the song
the windmill sings during a breezy day or evening. With the windows open, the
sound is a lullaby at bedtime. Don’t get me wrong, I love modern conveniences,
but they’re a trade-off. We lose something with each part of our past that
disappears.
Our former windmill at dawn Photo by Stephanie Smith
Due to my love for
the life-giving machines, I included them in two of my books. BRAZOS BRIDE was released in 2012 and has been re-released as part of a boxed set in MEN OF STONE MOUNTAIN: MICAH, ZACH, JOEL available from Amazon.. TEXAS LIGHTNING is a time travel due to be released in 2014. Thinking about these books led to research
about windmills that involved more than just loving to look at and listen to
the marvelous machines. Something many readers don't realize is that the few sentences I included in each of these books involved a lot of research. I might have been carried away and overdone the research, which happens to me often.
Over 80,000 working
windmills are estimated to be still working now in Texas. You can’t drive on any road
without seeing them in the distance. They are of particular service to ranchers
in the arid regions. Land that once was almost useless to ranchers became
valuable once windmills were erected. The windmill has come to be one of the
symbols of ranching and cowboys. Once I started researching them, I was
surprised the type I have come to love was not as old as I’d suspected.
West Texas ranch land - water? photo by author
Before the introduction of windmills to Texas and the West,
inhabitable land was confined to areas where a constant water supply was
available. There was no way for vast areas to be settled without a life-giving
supply of water. The coming of the windmill made it possible to pump water from
beneath the ground, and soon whole new areas were opened up to settlers. The
first windmills were of the European style, built by Dutch and German
immigrants for grinding meal and powering light industry. What settlers needed
most, however, was a windmill that pumped water.
Windmills in Germany Photo from iStock
Because of its bulk and need for constant attention, the
European windmill was impractical for this purpose. The solution to this
problem came in 1854, when Daniel Halladay (Halady or Halliday) built the first
American windmill in Ellington, Connecticut. He added to his mill a vane, or
"tail," as it was called by cowhands, that functioned to direct the
wheel into the wind. The wheel was a circle of wood slats radiating from a
horizontal shaft and set at angles to the wind, designed so that centrifugal
force would slow it in high winds; thus, the machine was self-regulating and
operated unattended. Its simple direct-stroke energy converter consisted of
only a shaft and a small fly wheel to which the sucker rod was pinned. This
compact mechanism was mounted on a four-legged wood tower that could be
constructed over a well in one day.
Steam Locomotive - water required iStock photo
Railroad companies immediately recognized windmills as an
inexpensive means of providing water for steam engines and for attracting
settlers to semi-arid regions through which they planned to lay track. By 1873
the windmill had become an important supplier of water for railways, small
towns where there were no public water systems, and small farms. Many of the
very early mills were crude, inefficient, homemade contraptions. One of the
popular makeshift mills was a wagon wheel with slats nailed around it to catch
the wind, mounted on half an axle. The axle was fastened securely to a post
erected beside the well. A sucker rod was pinned to the edge of the hub. It was
stationary and worked only when the wind blew in the right direction. The
windmills used later on the big ranches were the more dependable factory-made
windmills.
Barbed wire fences changed the West Photo by author
Windmills moved to the ranches when the use of barbed wire began in the late 1870s.
At first the water holes, springs, creeks, and rivers were fenced, so that the
back lands had no access to water. In the midst of the fence cutting and fighting, some
ranchers began drilling wells and experimenting with windmills. Most of these
experiments were unsuccessful, however, due to lack of knowledge concerning the
proper size of the windmill in relation to the depth and diameter of the well.
One of the earliest successful experiments was made eight miles north of
Eldorado, in Schleicher County, Texas by Christopher C. Doty, a nomadic
sheepman. Doty moved his flock into that area and found abundant water in
shallow wells. By 1882, however, a drought had dried his wells; he ordered a
drilling rig from Fort Scott, Arkansas, bored a fifty-two-foot well, and
erected a Star windmill, which successfully supplied water for his 4,000 head
of stock.
Rock line cabin from the Matador Ranch mentioned below, now on view at the Ranching Heritage Museum, Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX photo by author
Watering stock with windmills spread rapidly. Eastern land
speculators began buying, fencing, and running stock on the land until it
became ripe for colonization. Among the first of these speculators to
indirectly bring windmills to North Texas was the Magnolia Cattle and Land
Company, organized by Maj. Willa V. Johnson. In 1884 the company bought two-thirds of the state-owned land in
Borden County, land which had natural water resources and had long been
unofficially claimed for grazing by Christopher Columbus Slaughter. When Johnson fenced the land, Slaughter was forced into
the use of windmills to supply water for his cattle. By 1886 the Matador Land
and Cattle Company (where years later my husband’s uncle worked) began using
windmills to water stock.
Texas windmill - Imagine farming or running cattle on this land without the windmill's life-giving water from Kozzi Photos
The largest of the Eastern land speculators, the Capitol
Syndicate, began using windmills on its XIT Ranch in 1887. One of their
windmills was believed to be the world's tallest; it was made of wood and was a
total height of 132 feet. A Texas historical marker at Littlefield marks the
site of a replica of the world's tallest windmill built on the XIT Ranch. The
original windmill blew over in 1926. By 1900 the XIT had 335 windmills in
operation.
Not until the King Ranch began extensive use of the windmill in 1890 did that the practice
began to spread rapidly over that area. By 1900 windmills were a common sight
in the Texas and the West. Inhabitable land was no longer limited to regions
with a natural water supply. The windmill made the most remote areas habitable.
Pawnee National Grasslands Windmill iStock photo
The use of windmills brought about two of the most colorful
characters of the West, the driller and the windmiller, and altered the
lifestyle of another, the range rider. The driller was usually a loner and
seldom seen by anyone except the range rider and windmiller. He followed the
fence crews and guessed at where he might find water, then bored wells with his
horse-powered drilling rig. When the driller was successful the windmiller
followed and set up a mill. Owners of the larger ranches usually employed
several windmillers to make continuous rounds, checking and repairing
windmills. The windmillers lived in covered wagons and only saw headquarters
once or twice a month. The early mills had to be greased twice a week, and this
was the range rider's job. He kept a can (or beer bottle) containing grease
tied to his saddle. When he rode up to a mill that was squeaking, he would
climb it, hold the wheel with a pole until he could mount the platform, and
then let the wheel turn while he poured grease over it.
Lone range rider - iStock photo
The range rider was always in danger of attacks from swarms
of wasps, which hung their clustered cells beneath the windmill's platform;
there was the added danger of falling from the tower when such attacks
occurred. The windmill industry's shift in 1888 to the back-geared, all-steel
mill caused heated debates in Texas livestock and farming circles. Most
ranchers and farmers welcomed the new steel windmill because its galvanized
wheel and tower held up better in harsh weather; also, its gear system was
better able to take advantage of the wind, thus enabling the windmill to run
more hours per day. The back-geared mill could also pump deeper and
larger-diameter wells. Those who favored the old wood mill argued that the
steel mill was more likely to break because of its high speed, that it was not
as easily repaired as the wood mill, and that when parts had to be ordered the
steel mill might be inoperative for days. Though sales of wood mills continued,
they declined steadily, so that by 1912 few were being sold.
Three windmills at sunset iStock photo
The last major development in the windmill came in 1915. A
housing that needed to be filled with oil only once a year was built around the
mill's gears. This relieved the range rider of his biweekly greasing chores and
somewhat diminished the windmiller's job. Because of the dependability of this
improved windmill, worries over water shortages were eased for the rancher,
farmer, and rural dweller. This mill was the prime supplier of water in rural
Texas until 1930, when electric and gasoline pumps began to be widely used.
Though Texas became the largest user of windmills in the
United States, there were never more than three active manufacturers of
windmills in Texas at one time. Windmills remain an important supplier of water
for Texas cattlemen. The King Ranch in the late 1960's kept 262 mills running
continuously and 100 complete spares in stock. Stocking spare mills is a common
practice among ranchers who depend on the windmill to supply water for cattle
in remote pastures.
Because the windmill has been confined for the most part to
remote areas, it has become a symbol of a lonely and primitive life, fitting for
the pioneers it first served and the cowboys about whom we love to read. I hold windmills dear to my heart as symbols of the Old West--just not as old as I'd first imagined.
Let me leave you with a video of one of my favorite groups singing one of my favorite songs about water and the need for it: Sons of the Pioneers singing "Cool, Clear Water."
