The Windmills of Kinderdijk

                Scene: The year is 1150 AD and two Dutch men are standing in a low-lying area prone to flooding. They are discussing solutions to their dilemma.

                        Berend: “Say me goot friend Adriaan, I haave me ze idea. Why don’t wee build up somme berry big mounds of ze dirt, und den ze waters won’ be to boother us no moore tymes.”

                        Adriaan: (With a bewildered look on his face asks) “Whoot are ja thinkin, Berend? Builda mounds a da dirt? Sounds ta mee jus a tad too haard”!

                        Berend: “Ja Adriaan, wee culd jes build ze dykes and make zum wiindermiills to do ze poomping of ze waaters and den wee haave ze land to plaant ze wegeetaables!”

                        Adriaan: “Why don’t wee jus move to ze higher land?”

            And so it came to pass that Adriaan moved his family to higher ground, started a sawmill and cut timber and sold it to his friend Berend who used it to build Windmills after he dug thousands of cubic yards of dirt and piled the dirt so that it made a ring of land (called polders) that the water could be pumped from so that he and his progeny could farm that land. Adriaan eventually sold his lumber business to Castle Depot and retired on the shore of the North Sea in a big waterfront mansion. He did, however, buy some weggatables from his goot friend Berend.

                                    We visited the area known as Kinderdijk (pronounced kinder-dike) in the Netherlands in order to see their Historic Windmills that are still standing and inhabited. And even though the daily management of the crucial water levels are handled now by more modern screw-conveyor pumps, the Windmills can, on a moment’s notice, be re-engaged and reclaim their previous roles in this incredible water management/polder/dike pumping system.

When we spoke to one of the “millers” it seemed that they, as a group, were secretly hoping for an electrical issue to arise so that the call for help would be answered by the old stand-by, the venerable Windmills of the Dutch Lowlands.

                        Our ship docked within walking distance of the Windmills, but it was far cooler to take an old barge (converted to an excursion boat) and motor to one of the mills that are open to the public. These windmills at Kinderdijk are now a National Historic District that immortalizes the basic process that lets Holland be Holland. If not, the Netherlands would be about 2/3 smaller in size. You see, the rest is below sea level! It is one thing to be below sea level and have no water around you (like Death Valley). It is quite another thing to be below sea level and have the North Sea as your neighbor!

                        Their system is quite ingenious. They use a series of ‘reservoirs’ at one level, further pump up the water to the next retaining area, and then finally move that water up and into the Rhine so that it is mixed in and carried away.

                        The windmills do the ‘work’. As the wind part (sails) turn the mills gearing, it turns an axle that is connected to a waterwheel type apparatus. This wheel is more like a ‘scoop’ as it picks up water with each blade and lifts it up about three feet and deposits it up in the next level either a reservoir or the river. This needs to be done in stages as the mills are of a certain ‘scale’ and that three-foot lift is what they do best. Over here, our mills are powered by running water (waterwheel) which turns the gearing and gets harnessed for grinding or maybe sawing. Our Western Windmills actually operate a staged pump with valves to bring ground water up for cattle and us. I hope that you can see the difference among these types of ‘mills’

                        Some of the windmills have been in a family’s possession for hundreds of years and those families still live inside even though the original need for them has been replaced by more modern pump systems.

                        Everything is done, or adjusted, by hand. The windmills can swing 360 degrees so that they may face into the wind no matter which direction it is coming from. And they are held in position not unlike a boom on a sailboat….. with a line affixed to bollards set around the mill. The ‘sails’ or paddles can be adjusted by unfurling sets of canvas that can wholly or partially cover them, so that the speed of the mill can be regulated.

                        Mostly all of the mill-folk that we encountered were volunteers, from our Guide and barge captain, down to the miller and the young lass who in period costume did ’chores’ around the mill. They do this because they are enraptured by their local history and the notion of perseverance and resilience of their people that enjoy world-wide acceptance of these attributes.

                        I kept looking for that little boy with his finger in the dike, holding back the Sea all by himself, like a true Dutchman!