Improved Clipper Windmill

To keep windmills turning and pumping on large ranches, a windmiller was employed like a modern-day mechanic to keep the mills in working order. For smaller ranches, a town blacksmith provided the service.

Montgomery Ward Co. distributed this turn-of-the-century windmill variety. The galvanized steel wheel measures 6 feet in diameter and rises 30 feet above the ground. The cypress water tank and tower were used on George Slaughter’s ranch west of Lubbock. Author/journalist Charles Kuralt wrote that around Lubbock and in other flat, dry parts of the country, windmills were “the great vertical sight to see. To passers-through, the windmills of the West were beautiful symbols.”