Wind and Water
(or lack of it)

In 1887, the Panhandle and much of the rest of Texas suffered from one of the worst droughts in the state’s known history.

On the giant XIT, land the state had conveyed to a group of investors to fund construction of a new capitol in Austin, ranch management faced a problem – too many cattle with too little if any ground water. To make matters worse, the ranch had more livestock on the way.

The water shortage had grown particularly acute on the southern end of the ranch in the Yellow House Division, the acreage intended to serve as the XIT’s enormous breeding pasture. One of the seven (eventually eight) separately run ranches that made up the 3 million-acre spread on the western edge of the Panhandle, Yellow House got its name because of its most striking geographic feature, known originally as El Canyon de Casa Amarillas. A South Plains landmark since first noted by Spanish explorers, the canyon stretches to the northwest of Lubbock for 35 miles.

To provide enough water for the livestock expected on the Yellow House, ranch manager B.H. “Barbecue” Campbell contracted with two drillers to bring in water wells in the canyon. After a slow start, the men finally made two shallow wells with modest flows, but Campbell wanted artesian water. A surveying crew continued looking for likely drilling sites and a series of deep and shallow wells came in as the canyon began to sprout wooden windmills like so many sunflowers. Averaging 34 feet high, the towers supported wheels ranging from 12 to 18 feet across.

But in the deeper end of the canyon, a 34-foot windmill did not get enough wind. Pondering the problem, someone came up with the sensible idea of building a windmill tall enough to poke above the sides of the canyon so it could catch the generally more robust wind blowing across the open plains.

The resulting wooden windmill tower rose 132 feet – the equivalent of a 13-story building -- to support a wheel with 12-foot blades. When operable, it worked just fine, but the mill stood so tall the ranch had trouble finding a windmill man brave – or dumb – enough to climb to the top to do maintenance. Recruitment became even more difficult after one man fell to his death from the giant mill.

In the early 1900s, the XIT’s owners – struggling for a return on investment they had yet to realize -- decided to discontinue raising cattle. Their new business model would be breaking up their huge acreage and selling smaller parcels as ranches or farms.

Austin-based cattleman George W. Littlefield bought the 312,175-acre Yellow House Division in the summer of 1901 for two dollars an acre and renamed it the Yellow House Ranch. In addition, he purchased 5,000 cows and 200 registered Hereford bulls from the XIT, placing them on his new holding.

Having done well in the cattle business and as a banker, in 1912 Littlefield signed a contract with the Santa Fe Railroad granting right of way across his land. Realizing the railroad would bring more people to that part of the Plains he organized the Littlefield Land Co. the same year and set aside land for the Lamb County town that would bear his name.

Managed by Littlefield’s nephew, the ranch continued in operation until Littlefield’s death in 1920. Not long after, the Littlefield estate sold the rest of the land. Whether the giant windmill in Yellow House canyon still functioned at that point is not known, but a windstorm on Thanksgiving Day in 1926 turned it into so much scrap lumber.

Forty-one years passed before someone suggested to the Littlefield Chamber of Commerce in 1967 that it ought to build a replica of the old XIT giant as a tourist attraction. Liking the idea, the chamber came up with the money and got the Santa Fe Railroad to donate land near its depot at SH 84 and XIT Avenue (known as Delano Street at the time) to accommodate the tower. Longtime windmill man Buck Ross headed the crew that put the new tower together and raised it on May 27, 1969.

Unlike its historic predecessor, the new steel tower rose only 114 feet. Even with a 12-foot wheel on top, it lacked six feet matching the original. Nevertheless, the Littlefield chamber proclaimed it the world’s tallest windmill and began touting it as a must-see for visitors. A year later, the Texas Historical Commission put up a historical marker.

Unfortunately for Littlefield boosters, it no longer has the world’s tallest windmill. Alas, the Lamb County seat can’t even brag about Texas’s tallest. That distinction now belongs to a collection of wind turbines outside Snyder in Scurry County that rise 345 feet.

The towers weren’t built with any intent to best Littlefield’s big windmill. Just as was the case with the original XIT giant, it’s all about reaching the prevailing wind.


© Mike Cox - September 27, 2012 column
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