Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1904-03-05

was Harry :. New. of the lloosicr
State. The New" candidate is u
strong man.
~SA
When the story of the development
of the West Is written u whole chap
ter in 1t must be given TO the home.
made windmill, In the valley of the
Platte. and indeed all through the
plains country. says II writer In the
Cosmopolitan Magazine, 1t waters
stock, saws wood. shells corn. grinds
feed, churns. and performs a hundred
other tasks. The cost of installing u
windmill ranges from 10 cents to Il
hundred dollars. The running expense
Is nothing at all except the cost of oil
and repairs.
Some farmers boy started the bust.
ness when he set an old axle along the
ridge pole. mounted a broken wheel on
It, nailed four boards for blades to the
| spOkes, attached u crank and plungcr.
and set the prairie breeze ut the pump
Ing. whOch had been his most hated
task.
Factories turn out windmills of
many types, but the independent
Wcsterner cannot wait for such
''store' machines. On the roof of his
corn crib he fastcns u packing case,
open OH top. \ piece of gas pipe
. Gny x,.l,t al, Ia,
pivots two crosses. which turn within
the box. Barrel stave blades connect
the arms. the running parts of Il worn.
out thrashcr furnish working gear, and
the simple mill known as Jumbo" il
done.
Only the upper blades are exposed to
the wind. ana these catch the blast as
an OvershOt wheel catches the water.
Presto! comes u breeze, ana In the crib
beneath the shelter goes merrily TO
work. \ little more machinery, home
made, ana the same Jumbo" auto
matically delivers the cars to the ma
chine ana carries away the shelled
grain. 4 giant Jumbo" nineteen feet
long, thirteen high and thirteen wide,
built OH the open prairie, drives two
fOur-inch pumps and raises half bar.
rel of water Il minute.
AS the winds are usually north and
south, such mill does not need to
change direction. Some farmers, how.
ever. build two "lumbOs" at right an
giles, to catch any wind that may blow.
Another common type of home made
wind engine is called the "battle-aX."
Its blades, on handles like butchers
cleavers. set in common hub, mount.
cd IN homemade frame. will do
many things to tighten the farmers
labor. \ fOur,fan mill ten feet In di.
ameter will run Il saw and mcrrily cut
through thlrty-inch logs: two eight.fan
mills on u thousand-acre farm in Ne
bra ska pump twenty barrels of water
IN hour: and n two-fan battle-aX ten
feet in diameter on u corn crib runs Il
feed grinder ana corn shelter.
Many farmer boys design ana build
more elaborate machines. chiefly varlc-
ties of the turbine wheel. The merry
go-round, set horizontally with its
blades always presenting Il working
angle 10 the breeze, Is one of these
The largest in Nebraska Is forty feet
in diameter and fourteen feet high.
Another mcrY-go-round has a sur.
rounding cylinder guided by II yanc
which always directs the wind against
the proper blades. \ twenty-foot ver-
teal turbine irrigates eight acres of
corn and ten of alfalfa, ana runs Il
feed mlll. There are also mills built
on the old Dutch pattern. One with II
thirty-slN-foot sweep ana four blades
runs an eight.horse- power feed grinder,
and grlnds three hundred bushels Il
day.
The Nebraska Department of Agri
culture encourages farmers to build
these mills, for it Is the boys and men
who can plan them and build them
who make good farmers and good citi.
zens in other respects. The home
made windmill is usually found In COM
pany with well-tilled fields. good stock,
tight fences, stanch barns and comfort
able houses.
&eA
1t Is no longer the fashion to blame
the dime novel for the exploits of run
away boys. Indian fighting and gold
digging are no longer the gilded paths