Blowing Across The Prairie

 October 18, 2020

By Seth McFarland

Wind.   Since I arrived at the Santa Fe Trail Center on September 20th, I regularly hear about the Kansas wind.  It is a part of life for every Kansas resident.   Last weekend, we anticipated the wind which had been forecast all week, and hoped that it would not impact the activities of the Tired Iron Show.   Upon the arrival of the wind Sunday evening, we did see some damage, but not nearly as much as we could have anticipated.    

The blowing sand from last week was reminiscent of the 1930s.  Known as the Dust Bowl, the historic wind storms impacted the Great Plains which included Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.  Due to the extreme drought and overgrazing, the wind would produce sand storms which would last for days.   Today, we still see elements of that period with the remnants of the Great Plains Shelter belt project when tree windbreaks were created. This project was initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt with the cooperation of the United States Forest Service.    Thousands of residents were forced to leave the region, and were the topic of music by Woody Guthrie, and in literature by writers such as John Steinbeck.

Now, I can hear the mechanical noises produced by the windmills on display at the Santa Fe Trail Center. It reminds me that wind can be harnessed as a productive renewable resource.   On the Santa Fe Trail Center campus, we have two historic windmills – the Baker Monitor Model “L” and the Sampson Model “M.” One of the selling factors of the wooden 1918 Baker Monitor Model L vaneless windmill was: “the friction of the regulating parts has been so much reduced and other features have been so carefully worked out that in all but very light winds the speed of the wheel is practically constant.”  The windmill was designed so that if there was too much wind, the windmill would then shut itself down.

The other windmill at the Center is a metal-bladed Sampson Model “M” which is connected to a water well that supplies water to the stone cooling house.  The Samson was one of the most common open back geared windmills found in the U.S., and it was sold through the Sears, Roebuck and Company in the 1930s to the early 1940’s.  The advertised outstanding self-oiling feature of the Model “M” was the “extreme simplicity, efficiency and practicability of the oil pump.” Stone cooling houses were located throughout Kansas in order to keep food preserved during the summer before the invention of the refrigerator. 

Wind not only is used to help draw water to the surface, but it is also used as a renewable resource to generate electricity.   Every day, portions of wind turbines are brought into Larned by highway and rail.   According to Lawrence Wind Energy, the turbines are assembled throughout the country for “residential, commercial and utility grade projects.”

Every year, Kansans face the effects of wind, whether it is the smoke carried from the forest fires in the west, the winter snow drifts, or the Spring and Summer tornadoes which have devastating results.   I have learned that Kansans are a hardy people who pull their hats down tight, and head out into the wind to face another day.