Richard Moore Outdoor Report: Vanishing Windmills

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas (ValleyCentral) — For nearly a century and a half, the iconic South Texas ranch country windmill has stood sentinel over coastal prairie and chaparral. 

Before the introduction of windmills to Texas some 150 years ago, cattle ranching was relegated to areas where a reliable source of water was available.  

The arrival of the windmill to remote areas without electricity enabled water to be pumped from beneath the ground with power generated solely from wind. 

However, windmills are vanishing across the landscape of the South Texas ranch country. 

In recent years, the iconic ranchland windmill spinning furiously to generate power to pump water to thirsty cattle has been replaced by solar pumps. 

Windmills are more expensive to maintain than solar pumps, which are also cheaper up front.   

Now days on many ranches, when a windmill needs to have a motor repaired or damaged blades replaced, the old structure is scrapped and replaced with a modern solar panel array and new pump. 

So one by one, the iconic windmill of South Texas ranching country vanishes into history. 

A lone windmill standing tall against a vast Texas sky symbolized the frontier spirit of pioneering ranchers who settled sprawling wildlands of deep South Texas. 

King Ranch alone, encompassing 825,000 acres, kept some 300 windmills running continuously to pump life-giving water to cattle and wildlife, but today, when an old windmill needs fixing, it is most likely replaced with a solar pump. 

For generations, the faithful old windmills toiled through devastating droughts and rare snowfalls, providing liquid elixir, making life possible in the “wild horse desert”. 

The historic windmills on the Yturria ranch, Las Golondrinas, El Toro, La Coma, and others are all gone now, but their stark beauty remains forever silhouetted in memorable sunrises. And what would a South Texas ranch be without a windmill?