Let The Winds Begin!

December, and it was a beautiful day!  Good enough to go to San Fran.  Actually, little known fact, the "winter" time in San Fran is often better days than the "summer".  The summer months have more fog and are cooler.

We did a free walking tour, this time of the west end of the Golden Gate Park, specifically, the two windmills that are there.

It was a beautiful setting, and we got to learn about these one of a kind windmills.   The "Dutch" (North) windmill was built in 1903 and was the 2nd largest windmill like this in the world.  The Dutch windmill was patterned after windmills in Denmark.  It's the windmill with the round tower.

The "Murphy" (South) windmill was built in 1908 and was the largest windmill of this type.  So the two largest windmills like these are in Golden Gate Park.

When Golden Gate Park was first built, it was built on huge sand dunes from the ocean. Nobody wanted the land and nothing would grow.  It was always windy and sand blew everywhere. The sand dunes went as far as a mile inland.

When the idea of planting things in the sand became a reality in the 1870's and 1880's, San Francisco had only one water company.  This part of the park was so far away, the water company charged HUGE fees and rates for the water.  At the beginning of 1900, it was decided the water fees were just too much.  Wells were dug instead, and the first windmill was built to use the wind to power the pump for the water.  The first windmill was such a success, a 2nd was built not far from the first to provide additional water for the park.  At it's peak, each windmill could pump 30-40 thousand gallons of water per HOUR!

The pumps no longer work, but the sails and motors have been repaired and the sails actually do turn in the wind.

Of course, we had to stop off at Pier 39 for a bit......