SENATE MEMORIAL 47

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2010

INTRODUCED BY

Stuart Ingle

A MEMORIAL

RECOGNIZING THE EFFORTS OF BILL DALLEY TO COLLECT AND PRESERVE WINDMILLS AS A VALUABLE REPRESENTATION OF EARLY WESTERN HERITAGE IN ROOSEVELT COUNTY, NEW MEXICO.

     WHEREAS, wind energy is one of the oldest sources of energy used by humankind; and

     WHEREAS, there are references to the existence of windmills relating to a Persian millwright in 644 A.D. and to windmills in Persia in 915 A.D.; and

     WHEREAS, windmills appeared in Europe in 1180 A.D. and were developed for a variety of purposes, including wind pumps that were used by the Dutch to drain their low-lying lands; and

     WHEREAS, after a decline in the use of windmills, a resurgence was seen in rural America as windmills began to be used for pumping water from wells; and

     WHEREAS, in 1854, the first wind pump was introduced in the United States by David Halliday, whose multivaned wind pump was misnamed the windmill; and

     WHEREAS, other inventors followed, including the Reverend Leonard H. Wheeler, whose windmill called the Eclipse became the best-known windmill in his area in 1867; and

     WHEREAS, after another American, Stewart Parry, began constructing wind pumps made of steel and equipped with metal vanes in 1883, the popularity of windmills spread around the world; and

     WHEREAS, although primarily used for pumping water, other uses for windmills were soon found, including cutting wood, grinding feed, shelling corn and performing other daily chores; and

     WHEREAS, at a cost of only a few pennies a day, windmills eased the backbreaking burden of many farmers and settlers of early days; and

     WHEREAS, homemade windmills were often constructed of whatever materials were on hand and came to be known by such colorful names as the four-blade battle ax, the two-blade battle ax, the barrel mill, the go-devil and even a butter churn; and

     WHEREAS, Bill Dalley of Portales, New Mexico, has assembled an impressive collection of windmills, including thirteen solid-wheel wooden mills, thirteen vaneless mills, three miscellaneous mills and nine incomplete mills for a total of eighty-five windmills in his collection; and

     WHEREAS, twenty-five additional windmills have been restored by Bill Dalley for individual collectors or for museums; and

     WHEREAS, Bill Dalley has taken on this project out of a love for history and to preserve a part of early western heritage in Roosevelt county;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the efforts of Bill Dalley to collect and preserve windmills be recognized and appreciated; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that recognition also be extended to Bill Dalley's wife, Alta Dalley, who supports his efforts and endures his collection of junk, his son and daughter-in-law Don and Ronda Dalley, his daughter and son-in-law, Sherri and Mark McAfee, and to his daughter and son-in-law, Diane and Steve Harris, for their hard work and help in preserving the collection; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to Bill and Alta Dalley and to Diana and Steve Harris.

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