Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1901-08-01
WINDMILL ECONOMY
ANCIENT DEVICE OF GREAT
VALUE IN MODERN TIMES.
WATER IN ABUNDANCE
Irrigation Possible on the Plains
of the Arid West and Stock
Afforded Drink-Some Good Work
by the Government Very Little
Appreciated.

1t is interesting in this age of new
ideas, when steam and electricity are
\ so much in evidence. to notice how
, some of the older methods of obtain.
ing power are still proftably en-
ployed. Take for example the use OF
the windmill. Nobody known when
| this useful device was invented. 1t
| is rumored that the old Romans knew
| of its use, and there is another story
that the Saracens introduced it into
Europe. E'ut while the early history
of the Windmill is shrouded in I'M
certainty, we do know that it came
TO play so important a part in the
little kingdom of Holland as to be
considered a national necessity in
keeping that courageous nation out
of the hands of the sea.
In Holland wind-mills are used TO
get rid OF water; in America they
are employed to produce it. Out on
the great plains in Kansas. Dakota.
Iowa and the adjoining states. an
ideal place for wind-mills where the
country lies fiat, and the winds sweep
uninterrupted for miles, the land
scape is fairly dotted with them.
They are all sizes and kinds. some
tall and graceful, others placed low
and resembling huge paddle wheels
with the lower half housed, and the
upper half catching the wind? A
number of the larger ones grind corn
or do other similar work. but the
majority are engaged in pumping up
water, for the needs of the stock and
the irrigation of the land, from the
exhaustless supply below the ground.
OF course each pump can bring up
but a small amount of water at a
stroke, but it is astonishing to see
how much this little aggregates in
the course of a year.
An estimate has recently been
made of the capacity of a windmill
running ten hours a day for six
months from an interesting report on
wind-mills and their use, issued this
year by the United States geological
survey, which is studying the great
plains to make available these rich
underground water resources. 1t was
found that an average wheel. twelve
feet in diameter with the wind blow
ing sixteen miles an hour is capable
Of pumping 1920 gallons an hour,
1920 in a day of ten hours. :. 900
each month, and 3,456,000 gallons in
six months. This is the work of only
one wind will. Add to it the work of
hundreds and thousands of others,
and realize the vast amount of water
brought into use by this means.
1t is difficult to appreciate the sig
nificance of this work and the value
of the windmill as a factor in the
means in the first place an abundance
of water for stock and irrigating
purposes, and water always means a
great increase in the productiveness
of the land. This is followed by an
increase in values and the pos
sibilities of large population; bigger
crops and better prices, and more
business and Increased earnings for
the transportation lines. This is
what the wind-mills are helping to do
in America.
Government and Our Rivers.
1t is not generally known that the
government, through the United
States geological survey, has been
making a careful study of the rivers
and the underground water supply
Nf c. hoe
this work become, and so helpful to
many widely diversified interests,
that a special branch, known as the
division of photography, has been
organized to conduct it. This division
has been in existence since 1888, and
is pushing it's Investigations as
rapidly as the appropriations will
admit. Broadly speaking its work
consists of careful inspection of
the habits and behavior of rivers, /.
e., the variation of the amount of
their flow throughout the year and
from year to year. This entails a
study of their drainage basins and an
accurate measurement of their dis
charge. The knowledge thus OBJ
tanned is the necessary foundation on
which all enterprises contemplating
the use of rivers must depend. In
the east many rivers valuable as a
source of water supply are under
examination. In the west for these
purposes also and for irrigation, they
are being measured. The very inn
portant matter of river pollution is
one which demands the same initial
investigations, and the government is
rendering its assistance to check and
avert this growing evil. Out on the
great plains. where the rivers are few
and the rainfall is light, the under
ground well waters, so necessary to
the inhabitants, are mapped and thus
made available.
A number of states in different
parts of the country have seen the
vale of this work and have made APP
preparations to have 1t continued
within their own borders more
rapidly and fully than the govern
ment alone could afford to conduct
il. The country's water resources,
which are among the greatest e