Aermotor Windmill

On old Aeromotor Windmill stands in the pasture along my family's driveway. The windmill is about 25 feet tall and has fan blades that are about 6 feet in diameter. It's the smallest type of aeromotor windmill built to serve its function. At one time, its fan blades would spin constantly, pumping water from a well into a cattle tank to quench the thirst of grazing cattle, and long ago, before electricity had arrived on the farmstead, even people. As mentioned earlier, it was purchased in the early 1900's by my grandpa's father before electricity had reached the farmstead. It was then that it functioned as both the source of water for his family's water and his cattle's water. Even after electricity had arrived on the farm, it continued to serve as the source of water for the people up until shortly before my father was born. Then, a well was finally dug and hooked up to an electric pump. It's been through alot, its blades and tail fins are riddled with bullet holes from .22 rifles. It served as target practice for multiple generations of teenage boys. Some of the rungs of its ladder that lead up to the blade and generator box have broken or become detached, and a few of the legs and supports have been bent in accidents over the years.

Today, it no longer stands at the old farm where it lived most of its life, instead, its stands at our home in the pasture some 150 miles away from its original location. Its blades have been locked in place, no longer able to spin, and it no longer stands above a well from which it can pump water. Still, it serves a purpose. It has been given a shiny new coat of silver paint with red tips painted onto the ends of the blades, and the bends in its supports have been hammered back to nearly their original shape. Now it stands, alone in our pasture as simply something to look at. It is a symbol, a reminder, of the farmstead for my dad and his brothers that had sustained and been the lifeblood for our families over multiple generations. Although the farmstead is now sold and gone, they still recognize the importance it had in raising them and building our families into what they have become today. The windmill is all that remains as a symbol and reminder of those days.