WINDMILLS. Before the
introduction of windmills to Texas, 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 of the state were opened up to
settlers. The first windmills in Texas were of the European style, built
by Dutch and German immigrants for grinding meal and powering light
industry. What Texans 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 (Hallady or Halliday) built the
first American windmill in Ellington, Connecticut. He added to his mill a
vane, or "tail," as it was called by Texas 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. 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. In 1860 the Houston Tap and Brazoria Railway purchased the
right to manufacture and use James Mitchell's "Wind Wheel" on its
right-of-way from Houston to Wharton. 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. By 1900 windmills were a common sight
in Texas. Inhabitable land was no longer limited to regions with a
natural water supply. The windmill made the most remote areas habitable.
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. Only two Texas
manufacturers, the Axtell Company in Fort Worth and the San Antonio
Machine and Supply Company, produced windmills on a large scale. The
last water-pumping windmill patented in the United States, however, was
invented by a native Texan, W. W. Welborn, in 1951, in the small
southwestern town of Carrizo Springs. The King Ranch in the late 1960s
kept 262 mills running continuously and 100 complete spares in stock.
The XIT Ranch in the Texas Panhandle at one time had 335 functioning
windmills. 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 pioneer Texans it first served. Aermotor Windmill has a very
interesting 118 year business history. However, one simple truth stands
undiminished by time or geography. Aermotor Windmill has continuously
manufactured windmills since 1888 and is the only windmill manufacturer
in the USA. In 1986 Aermotor was purchased by an investor group and
moved to San Angelo, Texas. The name was changed to Aermotor Windmill
Corporation. See: www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/aow01 and
www.aermotorwindmill.com/company/9-company-related/12-his...SEE MORE OF ANGELA'S PHOTO'S ON FLICKR
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