Windmills Present Ask Dave a weather question

Dave Thurlow, Host

 
You're listening to a sound that the pioneers of the Great Plains knew by heart. It's a windmill in action at the Shattuck Windmill Museum, located on a small field in northwest Oklahoma. Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow and this is the Weather Notebook. Yesterday on the show we looked at the origins of the windmill in Europe and today we're going to a place where the American windmill is celebrated and preserved. It's the Shattuck Windmill Museum and it stands on a patch of land the size of a couple of city blocks, several dozen windmills have been brought here. Some date back as far as a century. They've been brought here from all over the Plains and put back into working order. Windmills were the main source of water and power for many pioneers around the turn of the century.

The first U.S. windmill was built in New England however, in 1854. But windmills came into their own further west. You see, windmills are basically pumps. They bring water from deep under the earth to the surface. And in a place where there isn't much surface water but lots of wind, a windmill makes perfect sense. But, by the middle of the 20th century electric pumps became more common on farms, and many windmills were dismantled or simply abandoned to turn idly, pumping nothing.

But windmills are now back in vogue, perhaps because they symbolize a time when people lived closer to the land and technology wasn't so hard to understand. Even in the days of hydro-electricity and the internal combustion engine, it seems people want to preserve the creaky old blades that started it all.

If you're interested in finding out more about the Shattuck Windmill Museum, please contact us at our website. Which is, mountwashington.org/notebook. Or, you can even give us a call at 1-888-724-6001.

Our show is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory. Underwriting is provided by Subaru, the beauty of all-wheel drive. With major support coming from the National Science Foundation.

(For additional information on the Shattuck Windmill Museum, give them a call at 405-938-2818)