http://www.FarmCollector.com November 2018 19
160 head of cattle,” he says. In addition to their day jobs,
Garrett and his wife, Bailey, have an antique business that
keeps them busy (@BalsickAntiques on Facebook), shipping
antiques to buyers all over the country.
Juggling a mix of classes,
work and windmills
Nothing if not industrious, as a college student in Hays,
Kansas, Garrett opted for picking over partying. “I had a
little Mazda,” he says. “One time I got two windmills and
all the parts into it.”
That was no one-off. Through a moving business he oper-
ated while attending classes full time, Garrett found a few
leads on windmills, including a Parrish direct-stroke mill
that was essentially new in the box.
“We found it in the fall of 2013 in my wife’s hometown of
Natoma, Kansas,” he says. “It was sold by a travelling sales-
man in the 1960s and had never been put up.” Built in the
1950s-60s in Earth, Texas, the Parrish’s claim to fame was
that it was constructed of common components. “You could
go to the hardware store and find parts for it,” Garrett says.
Having found their way into every other part of his life,
it should come as no surprise that windmills even factored
into his marriage. “When Bailey and I were engaged, I told
her to pick one out and I’d get it and restore it for her as a
wedding gift,” he says. Bailey’s choice? A Flint & Walling
Star Model 12 double-geared mill. “I’m in the process of re-
storing it now,” he says.
- This Southern Cross, manufactured in
Australia, is one of the largest windmills
made in the world. With a wheel 25 feet
in diameter, this is a direct-stroke windmill
with no gear heads. Pumping capacity of
the mill (from a depth of 300 feet) is 350
gallons per hour. - The Cook family: at back, Cari and Tim;
at front (left to right), Dena Edwards,
Patricia and Kenneth Cook. “There’s
just something about a windmill that’s
romantic,” Patricia says. - Tim Cook’s exquisitely handcrafted
1/3-scale model of an Iron Turbine
windmill. Built by Mast, Foos & Co.,
Springfield, Ohio, the Iron Turbine was
considered the first successful all-metal
American windmill. - Collectors Garrett and Bailey Balsick,
flanked by an Axtell Standard mill in the
museum’s collection. - Windmill enthusiast Jimmie Christensen.
“I’ve never found a windmill I didn’t like,”
he says.
“A vital part of
American history”
The Mast Foos Iron Turbine, Garrett
says, is probably his favorite windmill.
“Ours is recast,” he says. “It’s one of
eight. There are five originals known to
exist.” One of the first metal windmills
produced during a time when wood-
en windmills were common, the Iron
Turbine impacted American windmill
design, but Garrett remains skeptical.
“Those bucket blades probably didn’t
work very well,” he says.
For Garrett, it’s all part of the story of the American wind-
mill heritage. “We try to find signs, books, oil cans, anything
we can find. If it’s windmill-related, we buy it.
“The West was won with windmills, barbed wire and Win-
chesters,” he notes. “We’re in it for the history. Without
preservation, none of this will survive, and it’s a vital part of
American history.”
Family history, too. “It takes me back to my grandpa,” he
says. “It’s in his honor.”
Who brings the past down to size?
Tim Cook & Family
At the trade fair in June, Tim Cook, Longmont, Colorado,
unveiled his most recent creation: a flawless 1/3-scale repro-
duction of a prototype Iron Turbine windmill.
A year earlier, Tim completed production of a dozen
1/3-scale Baker direct-stroke windmills (Baker windmills
were manufactured by Heller-Aller Co., Napoleon, Ohio).
Over the course of that two-year project (which followed a
two-year development period), his family played a major role.
“My sister, my wife and my parents would sit at the din-
ing room table with 4-40 bolts and clips,” he says. “They as-
sembled each complete wheel for each of the 12 scale-model
windmills.” The first one was professionally detailed. On later
pieces, Tim’s wife generated stencils using a vinyl cutter.
The first six sold for $2,000 each. When Tim decided to sell
the next six at the same price, his workforce revolted. “They
said we had to get $3,000 a piece,” he recalls. He protested,54