On a trip to Burr Oak, I noticed a windmill. The fan was not turning on a windy day.

I stopped and walked into the field to see why it wasn't turning. As near as I could tell, the brake was set so the fan could not turn to pump the water for the cattle. It didn't look like the cattle had been in that pen for a while because the weeds and grass were not trampled down. I could tell the mill was still active because of the condition of all the equipment.

After pondering about the windmill, I looked up windmill history and here's what I found.

The earliest windmills were used by the Persi...