These American-style metal windmills are disappearing fast. You can still find a few, but most are in very bad shape and often missing the blades. This one in southern Story County, Iowa is on a small-scale farm and I suspect it’s been refurbished a time or two.
History: In the 1800s, the great plains were considered unfit for cultivation and farming. Long droughts would follow rainy spells, but consistent water could only be found deep underground. In 1854, Daniel Halladay developed the American-style windmill which was smaller and required less maintenance than the larger European windmills. These American-style pumping windmills were ideal for settlers on the plains and critical for the railroad's steam locomotives. Metal windmills became common in the 1890s and these water-pumping windmills became visual icons on the Great Plains for decades.
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(Three multiple bracketed images: -1 EV, 0 EV, +1 EV)
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