Western Windmill

by Jim Butcher

Title

Western Windmill

Artist

Jim Butcher

Medium

Painting - Mixed Media On Cold Press Illustration Board

Description

The prairie flower's slender stem reaches skyward while the steel-petaled blossom revolves in the wind. As the endless Texas plain recedes into the distance, this floral species becomes recognizable as an American windmill. Invented around1860 and used widely throughout the United States, this windmill displays a greater number of blades than its European predecessor. Originally made of wood, but now made of metal, American wind-catchers are not as pretty, nor as graceful as European windmills; but, they have done their jobs for over a century. These scrawny mills have drawn water from the ground that is so valuable to the arid west that it transformed the Great American Desert into the Great Plains. The railroads used the windmills to pump running water into their depot tanks, and ranchers used them to irrigate their land. Windmills supplied water to salt mines in Texas and volunteer fire departments throughout the west. At the end of a hot, dusty day on the trail, sweating cowboys chased their four-footed rivals from the barnyard tank and cooled off in the water the windmills provided. Prairie preachers dunked repentant sinners into water tanks to sanctify them. And, the windmills filled the waiting tanks with water that washed clothes and cooled food. Today, the western prairies are still alive with these whirling windmills, as Americans meet an ancient challenge to capture the restless wind.

Please note the "Fine Art America" watermark will not appear on the painting or any print reproduction.

Artwork Copyright © 1980 Wind River Studios Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved under United States and international copyright laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, transmit, or otherwise exploit the Artwork in any way. Any sale of the physical original does not include or convey the Copyright or any right comprised in the Copyright. WRSH Stock Number XB05997

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April 23rd, 2022

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