Saturday, August 29, 2009

Windmill Down!

We got a quick look at this on the way through about a week ago - this is West Gate, which I've written about several times. As you can see from these pictures in particular, West Gate is not showing it's usual profile: the windmill is missing. No wait, that's it lying on the ground behind the water tank. We were concerned that the windmill had fallen over, been knocked down, or was in the process of being replaced by one of those solar-powered pump jacks I've seen being used instead of older windmills in some parts of Nevada. We didn't have time to stop and investigate.
On the way back, the windmill was still down, hidden behind the square water tank.
It was on the ground, let loose from it's moorings and guy wires.
The top of the windmill tower was blocked up by railroad ties, and one slightly shot-up vane was lying on the ground. We didn't see any of the other vanes.
It looked like an in-progress repair or maintenance operation...
...with a few parts lying around. I can't pretend to know the names of many of the parts. Is the top called the head? Not sure.
Here's the concrete platform with part of the pump or the pump casing in the center, and tower attachment points outward from the center.
An unusual view of the windmill, with the sucker rod lying loose in the middle of the downed tower.
Our friends, the blue belly lizards, were still hanging around, although this time we only saw this one.

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