Vintage Windmills Vanishing from Old Homesteads

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Windmill Photo 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 from old homesteads 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."

Progress in other avenues also spelled the end of an era.

"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.

"My wife and I were both raised on farms," he said. "And we remember those wooden wheels: they just have a sound all their own. When they're pumping, it's 'clack, clack, clack.'"

The McLains didn't set out to fill a garage with old parts and machinery. "When we established Old Homestead Realty in 1988," Howard said, "we bought an old wooden-wheel windmill to use as a promotional piece. It just went from there. Now we can't even get the car in the garage, there's so much stuff in there."

Within a few years, they found themselves driving through the countryside, looking for iron work for old windmills. But there were no easy finds.

"Sometimes, it will take three or four or even five mills to get enough parts for one," he said.

And some owners are reluctant to let go of an old mill, even if it's not in use.

"We're able to actually get less than half of the mills we find," Howard said. "A lot of people keep those mills for sentimental reasons. We'll find them and locate them, but a lot of times, the owners won't sell. 'Oh, that was on granddad's well...' they'll say. But then they'll let that same windmill deteriorate and fall over in the first big storm."