 |
| Windmill and house. Olivia Colony, Calhoun County, Texas. Circa 1910. |
If you look carefully, you will see that this is the house
and windmill in the background of the picture in the last
post, "Jenny Johnson milks her cow". In this picture, I am particularly interested in
the windmill.
In the 1918 book Swedes In Texas, Severin writes about
Olivia:
“The pioneers met many difficulties. First they had a persistent draught, and when it started to rain, it never wanted to stop. In spite of all this rain, there was still a shortage of drinking water. They had to drink the same water as the cattle from the pond or dam, and the cattle not only drank from it, but were actually standing in it.” (Swedes in Texas pg 1146)
One alternative to this rather bleak scenario was the use of
wind power. Joseph Daniel Mitchell, the earlier owner of the Olivia Colony land
was known for his interest in agricultural innovation. It is said that he put in the “first windmill
west of the Colorado River for watering stock.” I’m wondering if this was J.D.
Mitchell’s windmill, left behind when he sold the property to the Swedes.
Windmills do not seem to have “caught on” as a general
solution in this part of Calhoun County. Of all the pictures of Olivia
Colony, only this scene and the one of the Paulson family in 1894, "On the Farm", show a windmill (and it may be the same windmill).
Revised February 2016 - Place has been identified and updated.
Additional information about the family and farm can be found in the post: From Foreclosure to Prosperity.
Revised February 2016 - Place has been identified and updated.
Additional information about the family and farm can be found in the post: From Foreclosure to Prosperity.
Identifiers:
Negative: Paulson062
Place: Olivia Colony, Calhoun County, Texas
Carl Otto Johnson / Minnie Johnson homestead
Date: Circa 1910
Sources:
”Swedes in Texas in Words and Pictures, 1838 to 1918”
(Published in Swedish in 1918; translated by Christine Andreason, 1994: and
accessed on the web here.)
(J. D. Mitchell and his windmill) Victoria Regional History Center "Mitchel Collection", accessed in the internet, 13 Nov 2012.
How does a windmill help with water conservation and storage? More importantly, is this new Blogger remodel something you selected or some change that has been imposed on you? If it's the former, I vote for the simpler style from last week.
ReplyDeleteThe windmill helps with water "access" but it doesn't really do anything about conservation or storage. Being able to access fresh water during dry times is key to a lot of ranching and farming.
ReplyDeleteAs to the Blogger remodel -- this is something I'm trying out. Personally I'm torn. I like the simplicity of the other model and the layout of the current post. For that reason, I almost went back immediately to the old layout.
In the new model I really really like the thumbnail pictures and summary of earlier posts. And I like the "search" box on the upper navigation bar. I think these make a huge difference to access to the older posts. And even in the last 24 hours - I saw an uptick on the stats for the older posts.
As a "newbie" blogger, I'm still pretty dependent on the blogger standard designs. In the next month, i'm hoping to work a bit on the layout and architecture of the blog. Hopefully I can find away to have the simplicity of the original views and also a "picture index" . I'll probably give this model a few more days of "trial", and then make a decision to keep or retire.
Thank you SO MUCH for the feedback.
Oh you're welcome. I replied to your email, too. So, how exactly does the windmill help with water access? I've never lived on a farm or in an arid area (well, not for long), so I am unaware of any use for windmills besides grinding meal and generating electricity. The problem seemed to asymmetrical access to water--either they had it and it was everywhere, or they had none. Balancing this out is usually a matter of capture conservation and irrigation, right? I'm not seeing the application of a windmill.
ReplyDeleteMostly the problem at Olivia, was the water that they had everywhere, above ground, was salt water.
ReplyDeleteWindmills were most frequently attached to pumps. When I was a kid visiting my grandparents ranch in Wyoming, the windy squeak of these wind driven pumps were a regular sound of my day. Mostly they were used to fill the "stock tanks" which looked something like a small backyard swimming pool, where the cattle came to drink. My grandparents also had a windmill at the ranch house, which not only pumped water, but also created the electricity which was stored in a battery and ran the few lights and the radio.
Oh - and the pumps were attached to wells (not pipes!)
ReplyDeleteNeat use for wind. And neat sensual detail, too. Thanks Bet!
ReplyDelete