April 29, 2007

(This article was first printed in the Sunday, July 4, 1976, Leader-News.)

"In Buck Howard’s windmilling days, he did his share of branding, dipping and dehorning on the L Seven, U Bar, Mallet Land and Cattle Company and other ranches.

"’I could hold a job as a cowboy," Buck said, "but I never learned to like it."

"Buck windmilled and cowboyed for some of the biggest spreads in Texas "commencing at $1 a day". When he quit windmilling in 1926 he was making $65 a month.

"’That was a whole bunch," he added. ‘After WW I, top hand got #35 a month, and board – providing he did his own cooking.’

"Buck windmilled on the Mallet Land and Cattle Company from 1919 to 1926. He kept 28 windmills going and watered 6,000 head of cattle on 150,000 acres of land in Hockley County, and Yoakum and Terry Counties.

"For seven years he worked lines of windmills, starting at 5:30 am every day. ‘When I quit, I said I wasn’t going to get up until I woke up,’ he said. ‘And I haven’t either.’

"Every windmill had a name. If the name wasn’t any more than ‘Old Mill on the Hill’, it designated the location of the watering point. Some of the more interesting mill names like Polecat, Hardluck, Shortfinger and Sanctified have stories behind them.

"’It took a week to drill a water well then,’ Buck said. ‘When they were drilling the well eight miles southwest of where Levelland is now, the drillers pitched a tent at the location. One night a polecat got in the tent. That’s how Polecat got its name.’

"Hardluck Mill wasn’t named until a fellow fell of the tower. ‘It killed him, and that mill was called Hardluck from then on.’

"A driller got his finger caught in some machinery and one windmill was called ‘Shortfinger’ from that day on. ‘Bughill Mill’ got its name for no better reason than a big bunch of bugs after a summer rain shower were seen nearby. ‘Sanctified’ turned out to be ‘as sweet a well’ as its name implied. Sanctified was located at about the point where Girlstown U.S.A. is now.

"While digging, the drilling machine broke at Sanctified, Howard recalls. The driller quit working and took Sunday off. When he started back Monday morning the bit came loose and the digging was finished without any trouble.

"It took Howard eight hours to reach Sanctified until the ranch bought a ‘pickup’ in 1920. The Motel T Roadster Turtleback was replaced with a flatbed box to hold the windmill tools.

"Windmilling not only took up all the daylight hours six days a week, but Buck only came to town every six months.

"An unexpected trip to town for windmill supplies or a dance at a line camp or ranch headquarters offered the only reason for bathing and shaving, just like in the movies, he recalled.

"Buck made his last cattle drive in 1926.

"’We commenced at Muleshoe and took six weeks driving the cattle to the Mallet headquarters 25 miles southwest of Littlefield. Sixteen of us went six weeks without shaving. When the grass was good, we wouldn’t move the cook wagon all day. The cattle fattened as we went along.

"’All that hurrying and roping in the movies is just for the pictures. We wouldn’t have any ‘chousing’. If a cowboy wanted to get fired, just let him ‘chouse’ the cattle or rove ‘em.’

"Buck quit windmilling for the Mallet in 1926. ‘It was in November,’ he said. ‘By doggies, it was about this time of year. After that, that’s when it gets interesting. I married.’

"The Howards moved to Lamb County in 1928. They farmed in the Rocky Ford community until 1942, then moved to their house on # 6^th Street in 1962.

"’And I haven’t got used to living in town yet,’ Howard concluded. ‘I still go out to my barn and garden and turnip patch. When I’m not messing around with my trees and junk, I like to talk to the old cowboys and reminisce about windmilling days.’"