Summer. The time when most folks take vacations, family reunions are held, and one can stay up late relaxing with a cool lemonade.
Not so for farmers. This is the time of year when our money is made. We can’t just take off to “play” when there’s hay to be mowed, or raked, or baled. Family reunions are missed, and lemonade is drunk to wash down a quick bite to eat before heading back out to bale lest rain ruins the hay.
Tucked in amidst the long days and nights of work there are a few days when a breather can be taken. This summer we decided we will be tourists in our own town. So this begins a series of post chronicling our staying home.
We decided to do a little geocaching at the windmill. We found the exact coordinates but no cache. We think it was stolen. There are so many hunters that come through here. It was fun to get out in the beautiful weather though. Mr. Ferrer Rocher decided to start the windmill to see if any water would come up. No luck!
As you can see from this survey tag, the windmill was owned by Miller & Lux, the largest cattle operation in the west during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. It was said they could drive their cattle from Canada to Mexico without ever leaving their land. These windmills are mostly on BLM ground now but are still used by ranchers for their range cattle.
You can read more about Miller and Lux here, here, and here. Jesse Wilkinson was a cowboy that worked for Miller and Lux so that site has really neat old photos.
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I’ve heard summer vacations at home referred to as “stay-cations”. 🙂
Love the shot of the windmill. It would look great framed in an old barnwood frame.
And I think Michelle D.’s family geocaches. Sounds fun.
We never geocached but we have letter boxed. We love doing that. Don’t need a gps to letter box.
Love the windmill and the history
We used to have an empty section of land behind our house in N. AZ. My husband took walks with the kids once a month to have one on one time with them. they loved watching it spin and pump water into to the stock tank out there. Too bad this one isn’t working now.
I guess it wasn’t technically empty, ranchers ran cattle out there before the drought wiped out the grass. The kids called it the cow fence.
Your geocaching experience sounds fun even if the cache wasn’t there. Just a pesky historical note — Miller & Lux might have thought they could drive their cattle from Canada to Mexico without leaving their land but in all likelihood it was land that belonged to Indians or that the government had taken from them. If you’re interested in the history of ranchers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Karen Merrill’s book, Public Lands and Political Meaning: Ranchers, the Government, and the Land Between Them (2002), is an excellent and even-handed study.
My brother is really into geocaching! I think it’s catching on around here and more people are finding out about it. It’s super cool. I’m waiting for our boys to be a little older (oldest is 20 months) to start on something like that!
I really want to try my hand at geocatching, but how disappointing if the box is gone!
Love the pics of the windmill! I also have to work the summer. It is my busiest season, so no break! I have never been geocaching before, but think the girls would love it!
Sherrie,
I’ve no doubt a majority of the land was taken from the Indians. It was part of the checkerboard land grant given to the railroad companies from the government. The sections of land we own now are all in a checkerboard pattern with BLM land in between.