"World Class" Windmill Collection

"World Class" Windmill Collection ENERGY Wind Power 23-1-23 Three years ago Henry Nuxoll began collecting and restoring old windmills on his ranch near Comstock, Neb. He has 17 restored windmills on hand so far and plans to put up more than 125 on a 140-acre site in the next two years. That will make it one of the largest privately owned windmill collections in the world, he says. Nuxoll calls his ranch "The Second Chance Ranch" and his collection "The Second Windmill Collection". He has hired a full time man to repair and repaint the vintage rigs. He began collecting and restoring windmills when he saw that they were increasing in value fast. He already has more than 147 different windmills on his ranch ready to be worked on. Restoring 50 per year is a realistic goal, he says. Some of the windmills have white wooden blades with colorful red tips. The wheels on all the various models range from 5 to 20 ft. in diameter. Nuxoll says there's a lot of interest in windmills. "Nothing is prettier than a windmill. They've always had a sentimental value, but now they're increasing in economic value, too," he says. "Their price has doubled in the past year. That's because there are less of them and more people looking for them. I think they're a tremendous investment. They always say the West was won by the gun, but the truth is that windmills did it. Without windmills people couldn't have established homesteads anywhere except on the banks of rivers and creeks. "I buy all different windmill brands including Dempsters Aeromotors, Fairburys, Challengers, Monitors, etc. A lot of them are rare, and some of them are one of a kind. About half of them are wood and half are metal. The wooden ones are a vanishing species because the wood has rotted due to age. Many of the metal ones were melted down during World War II or thrown on the junk pile. On many of the wooden ones the rancher had to climb up every week or two to oil the gearboxes by hand. Then manufacturers started making models with oil-bathed gearboxes which required servicing only about once a year. They were replaced by submersible well models which are also vanishing." Nuxoll says that in the 1800's there were more than 200 windmill manufacturers. "Now there are only two that I know of - Aeromotor and Dempster." He says his 1897 Aeromotor model is not only rare but one of the oldest windmills in his collection. His largest windmill, an Aeromotor with 20-ft. dia. metal blades and an 8-ft. high tail, is also his favorite. "Only two are still standing in Nebraska, although there are some others in Texas and Oklahoma." One of his rarest is a twin wheel Dempster model equipped with counterbalance weights. Besides restoring his own windmills, Nuxoll will also work on windmills for others. To rebuild wooden windmills he uses Cyprus wood because it's lightweight and weather resistant. After restoring the windmills he anchors them to cement pads, much the same as they were originally anchored. When he needs parts he buys them at salvage yards or has them made at a foundry. Nuxoll recently converted his ranch house to a bed and breakfast which he calls the Dempster House. Surrounding the house will be 14 to 20 Dempster windmills, both wood and steel, of different sizes and eras. And in full view of the house will be over 100 different windmills. "We're going to promote it as the only house in the world within view of 100 windmills," he says. He also established the "Windmill Water Company" so that he can sell bottled water pumped out of the ground by his windmills. The bottles will show a logo of a Dempster windmill and wooden tank. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Henry Nuxoll, 2nd Chance Ranch, HCR 68, Box 19, Comstock, Neb. 68828 (ph 308 628-4369).

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