Misc.-Wind Power Center TB01

Please drop this item in rural or Premium Member Only caches.  Do not drop it in an urban cache or leave it behind at a caching event.  Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; this prevents the chain and tag tangling with other items.  Otherwise, take this travel bug anywhere you wish.  No permission needed to leave the U.S.

Patch of Logo.  The Wind Power Center Logo Features a rare Twin-wheel windmill manufactured in Hutchinson, Kansas, in the early 1900s.  It has two 12-foot wheels on a single tower that could raise enough water for irrigation purposes.  The Center has a Twin-wheel on their grounds.  Most of the text and the TB photos were downloaded from the American Wind Power Center website. 
 
The invention of the self governing windmill and its subsequent successful manufacture greatly influenced the development of the western two-thirds of the United States. Windmills from that period tell the story of ingenuity, hardship, success and failure of the early settlers as they applied a new technology to conditions in an environment with which they were barely familiar. Between 1854 and 1920, over seven hundred companies had manufactured tens of thousands of windmills. There are now only two of those companies left, one of which is in Texas.  Most windmills from that period have now been lost and those that remain are in the hands of private collectors or in sparse exhibits in general purpose museums. The passing of these windmills means that future generations can only learn about the windmill’s history through pictures.
 
The American Wind Power Center has become internationally recognized as the place to visit for observing windmills in their natural setting, photographing groups of windmills and serving as the premier educational facility where the windmill’s heritage is taught, seen and heard.  Common to those who grew up on the Plains, the windmills hold a fascination for people from outside this region. The dynamic characteristics of windmills are magnetic and the visual movement of large numbers of these water pumpers is simply indescribable.  Complementing the many windmills at the Center is a large collection of photographs, drawings and models in the Windmiller’s Art Gallery, and other very rare collections of windmill artifacts.