Gone With the Wind
Wooden-wheel windmills vanishing from rural landscapes
By Leslie McDaniel
Photos by Maria Brunssen
As a symbol of the farm in America, few images are as enduring as that of windmill. But the genuine wooden-wheel article, collectors say, is disappearing fast. "This stuff is rare," said collector Howard McLain, Carroll, Neb. "Original mills carry a lot of value."
More than a century ago, windmills made the Great Plains habitable, harnessing the wind's energy to provide water for settlers and their livestock. But the advent of rural electrification in the late 1930s marked the beginning of the end for the prairie sentinels. "The REA came in 1936, and then the World War II scrap metal drives," Howard said. "From there on out, there were less and less windmills."
"It used to be, the railroad companies would have a lot of large windmills alongside the tracks to supply water for the steam engines," he added. "But when the diesel engines came along, that was the end of that."
Collectors even have to contend with other collectors.
"There were so many collectors who saved the weights," Howard said, "and threw away the iron."
Every mill manufacturer had a different counter weight. Duplex used a black ball inscribed "Use 26 pounds of stone..." The ball came apart in the center so it could be filled with stones. Another manufacturer used a cement football-shaped weight. Dempster used a galvanized box under a horse. Elgin used a rooster. Some used initials.
"It was a way of identifying the wheels from a distance," Harold said.
Although windmills are still used at sites where delivery of electricity is impractical, Howard knows the mills' glory days are past. But he treasures those that survive as historic artifacts; reminders of days gone by.